Grant: Idea to Innovation

Grape is one of the most economically valuable fruit crops in the world with a global market value of $189 billion in 2020. Most grape cultivars belong to the species Vitis vinifera and are susceptible to powdery mildew. This fungus is the most destructive disease that plagues grape vineyards worldwide. Grape growers apply enormous amounts of fungicide in order to fight off powdery mildew and ensure adequate grape quality and yield. Gene editing has been revolutionizing plant breeding over recent years by allowing scientists to directly alter the genome of agricultural crops to create cultivars with superior taste, higher yield and disease resistance. Using gene editing technology, we propose making targeted knockouts of known disease susceptibility genes for powdery mildew to render them inactive. Currently, there are no gene edited grape cultivars with powdery mildew resistance on the market. We aim to target popular wine grape cultivars, such as Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, with gene editing to produce lines that are genetically identical to the traditional cultivar except that the disease susceptibility genes will be disrupted and the resulting plants will therefore possess superior disease resistance. These disease resistant cultivars would then be propagated and sold to growers, leading to drastic reductions in pesticide applications and production costs for growers who adopt our vines.