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The advent of Clustered Regularly Interspaced Palindromic Repeat (CRISPR)/CRISPR-associated (Cas) proteins as a revolutionary innovation in genome editing has greatly promoted targeted modification and trait improvement in most plant species. For grapevine (Vitis vinifera L.), a perennial woody plant species, CRISPR/Cas genome editing is an extremely promising technique for genetic improvement in a short period. Advances in grapevine genome editing have been achieved by using CRISPR technology in recent years, which promises to accelerate trait improvement in grapevine. In this review, we describe the development and advances in CRISPR/Cas9 and its orthologs and variants. We summarize the applications of genome editing in grapevine and discuss the challenges facing grapevine genome editing as well as the possible strategies that could be used to improve genome editing in grapevine. In addition, we outline future perspectives for grapevine genome editing in a model system, precise genome editing, accelerated trait improvement, and transgene-free genome editing. We believe that CRISPR/Cas will play a more important role in grapevine genome editing, and an exciting and bright future is expected in this economically significant species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vitis zhejiang-adstricta (V. zhejiang-adstricta) is one of the most important and endangered wild grapes. It is a national key protected wild, rare and endangered ancient grape endemic to China and used as a candidate material for resistance breeding owing to its excellent significant disease resistance. Here, we present a high-quality chromosome-level assembly of V. zhejiang-adstricta (IB-VB-01), comprising 506.66 Mb assembled into 19 pseudo-chromosomes. The contig N50 length is 3.91 Mb with 31,196 annotated protein-coding genes. Comparative genome and evolutionary analyses illustrated that V. zhejiang-adstricta has a specific position in the evolution of East Asian Vitis and shared a common ancestor with Vitis vinifera during the divergence of the two species about 10.42 (between 9.34 and 11.12) Mya. The expanded gene families compared with those in plants were related to disease resistance, and constructed gene families were related to plant growth and primary metabolism. With the analysis of gene family expansion and contraction, the evolution of environmental adaptability and especially the NBS-LRR gene family of V. zhejiang-adstricta was elucidated based on the pathways of resistance genes (R genes), unique genes and structural variations. The near-complete and accurate diploid V. zhejiang-adstricta reference genome obtained herein serves as an important complement to wild grape genomes and will provide valuable genomic resources for investigating the genomic architecture of V. zhejiang-adstricta as well as for improving disease resistance breeding strategies in grape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cold stress is an adverse environmental factor that limits the growth and productivity of horticulture crops such as grapes (Vitis vinifera). In this study, we identified a grapevine cold-induced basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) transcription factor (VvbHLH036). Overexpression and CRISPR/Cas9-mediated knockout (KO) of VvbHLH036 enhanced and decreased cold tolerance in grapevine roots, respectively. Transcriptome analysis of VvbHLH036-overexpressed roots identified threonine synthase (VvThrC1) as a potential downstream target of VvbHLH036. We confirmed that VvbHLH036 could bind the VvThrC1 promoter and activate its expression. Both the transcripts of VvThrC1 and the content of threonine were significantly induced in the leaves and roots of grapevine under cold treatment compared to controls. Conversely, these dynamics were significantly suppressed in the roots of CRISPR/Cas9-induced knockout of VvbHLH036. These observations support the regulation of threonine accumulation by VvbHLH036 through VvThrC1 during cold stress in grapevine. Furthermore, overexpression and CRISPR/Cas9-mediated knockout of VvThrC1 also confirmed its role in regulating threonine content and cold tolerance in transgenic roots at low temperature. Exogenous threonine treatment increased cold tolerance and reduced the accumulation of superoxide anions and hydrogen peroxide in grapevine leaves. Together, these findings point to the pivotal role of VvbHLH036 and VvThrC1 in the cold stress response in grapes by regulating threonine biosynthesis., (© The Author(s) 2024. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of American Society of Plant Biologists. All rights reserved. For commercial re-use, please contact reprints@oup.com for reprints and translation rights for reprints. All other permissions can be obtained through our RightsLink service via the Permissions link on the article page on our site—for further information please contact journals.permissions@oup.com.)