Short-Term Postharvest Carbon Dioxide Treatments Induce Selective Molecular and Metabolic Changes in Grape Berries

Detached wine grapes (Vitis vinifera cv. 'Trebbiano', white skinned) were treated for 3 days with 30 kPa of CO2 and then transferred to air for an additional 9 days to partially dehydrate (about 20% weight loss). At the end of the CO2 treatment on withering berries, total polyphenols and flavonoids were maintained in the skin, but to a more limited extent in the pulp. An induction of the proanthocyanidin synthesis appeared to be one of the responses to the treatment because both (+)-catechin and (−)-epicatechin concentrations increased in the skin. The skin and pulp of the grape berries showed different molecular responses to a high CO2 treatment. As revealed by microarray hybridizations, 217 and 75 genes appeared differentially expressed in the skin and pulp of treated samples, respectively. Functional categorization and gene enrichment analyses pointed out that epicarp cells undergo more pronounced changes in transcript profiling at the end of the incubation period. Highly represented categories in both tissues were related to protein, stress, transcript, RNA, and hormone (ethylene, ABA) metabolism. Fermentation, CHO metabolism, and redox regulation functional categories were represented only in the skin.