How to integrate wet lab and bioinformatics procedures for wine DNA admixture analysis and compositional profiling: Case studies and perspectives

PLoS One. 2019 Feb 12;14(2):e0211962. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0211962. eCollection 2019.

Abstract

The varietal authentication of wines is fundamental for assessing wine quality, and it is part of its compositional profiling. The availability of historical, cultural and chemical composition information is extremely important for quality evaluation. DNA-based techniques are a powerful tool for proving the varietal composition of a wine. SSR-amplification of genomic residual Vitis vinifera DNA, namely Wine DNA Fingerprinting (WDF) is able to produce strong, analytical evidence concerning the monovarietal nature of a wine, and for blended wines by generating the probability of the presence/absence of a certain variety, all in association with a dedicated bioinformatics elaboration of genotypes associated with possible varietal candidates. Together with WDF we could exploit Bioinformatics techniques, due to the number of grape genomes grown. In this paper, the use of WDF and the development of a bioinformatics tool for allelic data validation, retrieved from the amplification of 7 to 10 SSRs markers in the Vitis vinifera genome, are reported. The wines were chosen based on increasing complexity; from monovarietal, experimental ones, to commercial monovarietals, to blended commercial wines. The results demonstrate that WDF, after calculation of different distance matrices and Neighbor-Joining input data, followed by Principal Component Analysis (PCA) can effectively describe the varietal nature of wines. In the unknown blended wines the WDF profiles were compared to possible varietal candidates (Merlot, Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon and Zinfandel), and the output graphs show the most probable varieties used in the blend as closeness to the tested wine. This pioneering work should be meant as to favor in perspective the multidisciplinary building-up of on-line databanks and bioinformatics toolkits on wine. The paper concludes with a discussion on an integrated decision support system based on bioinformatics, chemistry and cultural data to assess wine quality.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Computational Biology
  • DNA Fingerprinting
  • DNA, Plant / genetics
  • Genetic Markers
  • Microsatellite Repeats*
  • Phylogeny
  • Principal Component Analysis
  • Vitis / classification*
  • Vitis / genetics
  • Wine / analysis*
  • Wine / standards

Substances

  • DNA, Plant
  • Genetic Markers

Grants and funding

The present work was co-funded by multiple public and private Entities and wine producers, depending on the wine type. The molecular analysis on wines from the American market was carried out with the essential and constant support offered by the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (USA) under the research projects: "Wine varietal characterization by DNA analysis", part I, II, and III (2009-2016); by the Regione Toscana, under the Winefinger project: (2014-2016); by several Tuscan wine makers, namely: Case Basse, Caprili, Le Potazzine and Col D'Orcia, Montalcino, Siena, Italy that cooperated and supported the research done within the Winefinger actions. We are grateful to the Amministrazione Provinciale di Siena, Italy and to the Consorzio della Denominazione San Gimignano for their support and participation in the study. We also thank the Azienda Agricola Mantellassi, Magliano in Toscana, Grosseto, Italy for letting us characterize their Alicante collections and wines. Finally, the research was supported by the wine maker Azienda Biologica Costa degli Ulivi, Fumane, Verona, Italy. The Serge-genomics company contributed to the present work by supplying research materials, only. Serge-genomics did not have any additional role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish or preparation of the manuscript.