Polyphenolic responses of grapevine berries to light, temperature, oxidative stress, abscisic acid and jasmonic acid show specific developmental-dependent degrees of metabolic resilience to perturbation

Grape-berries are exposed to a plethora of abiotic and biotic stimuli during their development. The developmental and temporal regulation of grape berry polyphenol metabolism in response to various cues was investigated using LC-QTOF-MS based metabolite profiling. High light (2500 μmol m⁻² s⁻¹), high temperature (40 °C), jasmonic acid (200 μM), menadione (120 μM) and abscisic acid (3.026 mM) treatments were applied to detached berries. Greater magnitudes of metabolite fluctuations characterize the pre-veraison berries than the veraison stage in response to the treatments. Furthermore, a tighter co-response of metabolic processes was shown at veraison, likely supporting the resilience to change in response to stress. High temperature and ABA treatments led to greater magnitudes of change during the course of the experiment. The present study demonstrates the occurrence of differential patterns of metabolic responses specific to individual cues and berry developmental stage, which in the field are commonly associated and thus hardly discernable.