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UV-C treatment elicits resistant responses against Botrytis cinerea infection and the improvement of fruit characteristics in grapevines

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Abstract

UV-C exhibits efficient growth inhibition against a wide range of microorganisms and has an elicitor impact on the induction of resistance against pathogens in host plants, emerging as a promising alternative to fungicides. This study examined the defense elicitor effect of both low (0.05 W/cm2) and high (0.133 W/cm2) powered UV-C (275 nm) against Botrytis cinerea on grapevines. Gene expression, total stilbene content, and the quality of the berries were assessed in ‘Kyoho’ grapevines irradiated with UV-C. Low and high-powered UV-C reduced the in vitro growth of B. cinerea by 40–50% and lowered the in vivo infection and disease severity by 40–85% in the leaves. Lesion formation was reduced by 20–50% in berries treated with UV-C. The spores of B. cinerea did not infect the unwounded berries of ‘Shine Muscat’ and ‘Kyoho’ grape treated with UV-C. The augmented levels of total soluble solids, color values, and reduced titratable acidity improved the quality of the UV-C-irradiated ‘Kyoho’ berries compared to the control. The total stilbene content was four to five times higher with 37.48 µg g−1 fresh weight (FW) using low UV-powered UV-C and 43.11 µg g−1 FW using high UV-powered UV-C in ‘Kyoho’ berry skins treated with UV-C compared to the control (9.24 µg g−1 FW), with predominant levels of trans-resveratrol. The genes involved in stilbene synthesis, defense, and antioxidant activity were strongly upregulated in the leaves and berries of grapevines in response to the low and high UV-C treatments. The low and high UV-C treatments elicit the induction of resistances in grapes against B. cinerea and improve the quality of berries. Future research will be needed on other parameters before UV-C irradiation can be applied to inhibit the incidence of grey mold in vineyards.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by a grant No. IRKB2222 from the Korea Industrial Complex Corporation Agricultural R&D, Rural Development Administration, Republic of Korea.

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SR performed the overall experiment and data analysis and wrote the manuscript. SR, ZR, SA, JR, and SL performed the experiment to confirm the results and wrote the manuscript. HY designed and managed whole experiments and finalized the manuscript. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Hae Keun Yun.

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The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

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Ramalingam, S., Le Myint, Z., Ahn, S.Y. et al. UV-C treatment elicits resistant responses against Botrytis cinerea infection and the improvement of fruit characteristics in grapevines. Hortic. Environ. Biotechnol. (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13580-024-00602-w

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13580-024-00602-w

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