Wood degradation in grapevine diseases

Abstract The major Grapevine Trunk Diseases (GTD) gather diseases associated with either one particular fungal species, e.g., eutypiose, or with fungal species complexes, e.g., Botryosphaeriae dieback. GTD-associated fungi are part of different fungal classes, depending on their substrate degradation mechanisms or on their lifestyles. They are identified in grapevine wood and they lead to wood typical symptoms. They are sometimes associated to foliar symptoms too, despite not found in aerial parts, probably acting through fungal toxins or through physiological disorders, such as non-functional wood vessels. Grapevine is a liana, and as such shows structural and chemical differences compared to forest tree wood. However, knowledge on wood-degrading fungi growing on tree wood can contribute to a better understanding of grapevine wood adaptation mechanisms to fungal attack. For example, wood density, xylem vessels size and number, or lignin content and composition can play a role in wood sensitivity to fungi. Also, some fungal detoxification mechanisms against wood extractibles are host-specific. In a first part of this chapter, structure and chemical composition of grapevine wood are described, pointing out properties that might play a role in fungal growth. In a second part, GTD main associated fungi and their known mechanisms for wood degradation or wood chemical detoxification are discussed. Extracellular and intracellular enzymatic and non-enzymatic mechanisms are considered. These mechanisms, well described for their role in fungal adaptation to tree wood, have been much less studied for GTD associated fungi. Further studies about those mechanisms would contribute to understand fungal adaptation to grapevine.