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Grapevine is one of the most widely cultivated fruit crops. Despite its importance in determining fruit and wine economic value, the regulation of fruit ripening at a molecular level remains largely unknown.

This project aimed to integrate field-based physiological measures with functional genomics technologies to characterize early molecular and physiological changes; identifying specific genes and the overlying relationships between coordinately regulated genes and metabolites.

This project acquired a detailed snapshot of genes involved in early-, mid-, and late-ripening stages, and identified that fruit elasticity is a valuable tool for the prediction of ripening.  The project also identified that ripening may start earlier than previously thought and is not associated with sugar accumulation.