Deconstructing the origin and spread of resistance to Phylloxera

Phylloxera is a hemipteran pest of grape vines world-wide that spread from eastern North America in the late 19th Century. In response, many wine producing varieties are grafted to native North American root stocks which are resistant to the pest. This project is concerned with investigating the evolutionary consequences of grafting on wine varieties over the past century, both in the relaxation of selection for pest resistance on the wine plant and adaptation to the grafted condition.

Genomes will be compared between rootstocks used in Europe and America, wild grape species, museum specimens and varieties grown without grafting in regions such as Chile and South Australia where the pest does not occur. The project will employ next generation sequencing technologies and extensive comparative genomic bioinformatics techniques as well as ancient DNA approaches.

Further information

• School of Life Sciences, University of Warwick
• University of California