Background: Aspartic proteases (APs) are a large family of proteolytic enzymes found in almost all organisms. In plants, they are involved in many biological processes, such as senescence, stress responses, programmed cell death, and reproduction. Prior to the present study, no grape AP gene(s) had been reported, and their research on woody species was very limited. Results: In this study, a total of 50 AP genes (VvAP) were identified in the grape genome, among which 30 contained the complete ASP domain. Synteny analysis within grape indicated that segmental and tandem duplication events contributed to the expansion of the grape AP family. Additional analysis between grape and Arabidopsis demonstrated that several grape AP genes were found in the corresponding syntenic blocks of Arabidopsis, suggesting that these genes arose before the divergence of grape and Arabidopsis. Phylogenetic relationships of the 30 VvAPs with the complete ASP domain and their Arabidopsis orthologs, as well as their gene and protein features were analyzed and their cellular localization was predicted. Moreover, expression profiles of VvAP genes in six different tissues were determined, and their transcript abundance under various stresses and hormone treatments were measured. Twenty-seven VvAP genes were expressed in at least one of the six tissues examined; nineteen VvAPs responded to at least one abiotic stress, 12 VvAPs responded to powdery mildew infection, and most of the VvAPs responded to SA and ABA treatments. Furthermore, integrated synteny and phylogenetic analysis identified orthologous AP genes between grape and Arabidopsis, providing a unique starting point for investigating the function of grape AP genes. Conclusions: The genome-wide identification, evolutionary and expression analyses of grape AP genes provide a framework for future analysis of AP genes in defining their roles during stress response. Integrated synteny and phylogenetic analyses provide novel insight into the functions of less well-studied genes using information from their better understood orthologs.

Gibberellins are well known for their growth control function in flower, fruit and seed development, and as such, exogenous gibberellic acid (GA) application plays an important role in viticulture. Unfortunately, the mechanism by which GA3 acts in the regulation of these complicated developmental processes in grape remains unclear. In the present study, we demonstrated that application of GA3 to ‘Kyoho’ grapevine inflorescences at pre-bloom promoted flower opening, and induced fruit coloring as well as seed abortion. In an attempt to obtain a deeper understanding of the molecular mechanisms driving these responses to GA3 treatment, we performed large-scale transcriptome sequencing of grape flowers following GA3 treatment using Illumina sequencing technology. Global expression profiles of GA3-treated and untreated grape flowers were compared and a large number of GA3-responsive genes were identified. Gene ontology (GO) term classification and biochemical pathway analyses indicated that GA3 treatment caused changes in the levels of transcripts involved in cellular processes, reproduction, hormone and secondary metabolism, as well as the scavenging and detoxification of reactive oxygen species (ROS). These findings suggest that GA3-induced morphological alterations may be related to the control of hormone biosynthesis and signaling, regulation of transcription factors, alteration of secondary metabolites, and the stability of redox homeostasis. Taken together, this comprehensive inflorescence transcriptome data set provides novel insight into the response of grape flowers to GA3 treatment, and also provides possible candidate genes or markers that could be used to guide future efforts in this field.

Plant respiratory burst oxidase homolog (rboh) genes appear to play crucial roles in plant development, defense reactions and hormone signaling. In this study, a total of seven rboh genes from grape were identified and characterized. Genomic structure and predicted protein sequence analysis indicated that the sequences of plant rboh genes are highly conserved. Synteny analysis demonstrated that several Vvrboh genes were found in corresponding syntenic blocks of Arabidopsis, suggesting that these genes arose before the divergence of the respective lineages. The expression pattern of Vvrboh genes in different tissues was assessed by qRT-PCR and two were constitutively expressed in all tissues tested. The expression profiles were similarly analyzed following exposure to various stresses and hormone treatments. It was shown that the expression levels of VvrbohA, VvrbohB and VvrbohC1 were significantly increased by salt and drought treatments. VvrbohB, VvrbohC2, and VvrbohD exhibited a dramatic up-regulation after powdery mildew (Uncinula necator (Schw.) Burr.) inoculation, while VvrbohH was down-regulated. Finally, salicylic acid treatment strongly stimulated the expression of VvrbohD and VvrbohH, while abscisic acid treatment induced the expression of VvrbohB and VvrbohH. These results demonstrate that the expression patterns of grape rboh genes exhibit diverse and complex stress-response expression signatures.

Plant zinc finger-homeodomain (ZHD) genes encode a family of transcription factors that have been demonstrated to play an important role in the regulation of plant growth and development. In this study, we identified a total of 13 ZHD genes (VvZHD) in the grape genome that were further classified into at least seven groups. Genome synteny analysis revealed that a number of VvZHD genes were present in the corresponding syntenic blocks of Arabidopsis, indicating that they arose before the divergence of these two species. Gene expression analysis showed that the identified VvZHD genes displayed distinct spatiotemporal expression patterns, and were differentially regulated under various stress conditions and hormone treatments, suggesting that the grape VvZHDs might be also involved in plant response to a variety of biotic and abiotic insults. Our work provides insightful information and knowledge about the ZHD genes in grape, which provides a framework for further characterization of their roles in regulation of stress tolerance as well as other aspects of grape productivity.