The quality of the vineyard soils has a direct impact on grapes and wine quality and represents a key component of the “Terroir concept.” However, information on the impact of soil microbiota on grapevine plants and wine quality are generally lacking. In fact, over the last few years most of the attempts made to correlate soil microbial communities and wine quality were limited by overlooking both the functional traits of soil microbiota and the spatial variability of vineyards soils. In this work, we used a functional gene microarray approach (GeoChip) and soil enzymatic analyses to assess the soil microbial community functional potential related to the different wine quality. In order to minimize the soil variability, this work was conducted at a “within-vineyard” scale, comparing two similar soils (BRO11 and BRO12) previously identified with respect to pedological and hydrological properties within a single vineyard in Central Tuscany and that yielded highly contrasting wine quality upon cultivation of the same Sangiovese cultivar (BRO12 exhibited the higher quality). Our results showed an enrichment of Actinobacteria in BRO12, whereas Alfa- and Gamma-Proteobacteria were more abundant in BRO11, where an enrichment of bacteria involved in N fixation and denitrification occurred. Overall, the GeoChip output revealed a greater biological activity in BRO11 but a significant enrichment of sulfur-oxidation genes in BRO12 compared to BRO11 soil, where a higher level of arylsulfatase activity was also detected. Moreover, the low content of sulfates and available nitrogen found in BRO12 suggested that the reduced availability of sulfates for vine plants might limit the reduced glutathione (GSH) synthesis, which plays an important role in aroma protection in musts and wines. In conclusion, in addition to nitrogen availability, we propose that soil microbial sulfur metabolism may also play a key role in shaping plant physiology, grapes and wine quality. Overall, these results support the existence of a “microbial functional terroir” effect as a determining factor in vineyard-scale variation among wine grapes.

中文翻译：

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葡萄园土壤中的微生物功能多样性：硫代谢及其与葡萄树和葡萄酒品质的关系

葡萄园土壤的质量直接影响葡萄和葡萄酒的质量，是“风土概念”的关键组成部分。然而，关于土壤微生物群对葡萄树植物和葡萄酒质量影响的信息普遍缺乏。事实上，在过去几年中，大多数将土壤微生物群落和葡萄酒质量联系起来的尝试都因忽视了土壤微生物群的功能特征和葡萄园土壤的空间变异性而受到限制。在这项工作中，我们使用功能基因微阵列方法（GeoChip）和土壤酶分析来评估与不同葡萄酒质量相关的土壤微生物群落功能潜力。为了最大限度地减少土壤变异，这项工作是在“葡萄园内”的规模下进行的，比较之前在托斯卡纳中部的一个葡萄园内根据土壤学和水文特性确定的两种相似土壤（BRO11 和 BRO12），在种植相同的桑娇维塞品种（BRO12 表现出更高的质量）时产生了高度对比的葡萄酒质量。我们的结果显示 BRO12 中放线菌的富集，而 BRO11 中的 Alfa- 和 Gamma-Proteobacteria 更丰富，其中发生了与 N 固定和反硝化有关的细菌的富集。总体而言，与 BRO11 土壤相比，GeoChip 输出显示 BRO11 中的生物活性更高，但 BRO12 中硫氧化基因显着富集，其中还检测到更高水平的芳基硫酸酯酶活性。而且，BRO12 中硫酸盐和有效氮含量低表明，藤蔓植物硫酸盐的可用性降低可能会限制还原型谷胱甘肽 (GSH) 的合成，而谷胱甘肽在葡萄汁和葡萄酒的香气保护中起着重要作用。总之，除了氮的有效性外，我们认为土壤微生物硫代谢也可能在塑造植物生理、葡萄和葡萄酒质量方面发挥关键作用。总体而言，这些结果支持“微生物功能风土”效应的存在，作为酿酒葡萄之间葡萄园规模变异的决定因素。我们认为土壤微生物硫代谢也可能在塑造植物生理、葡萄和葡萄酒质量方面发挥关键作用。总体而言，这些结果支持“微生物功能风土”效应的存在，作为酿酒葡萄之间葡萄园规模变异的决定因素。我们认为土壤微生物硫代谢也可能在塑造植物生理、葡萄和葡萄酒质量方面发挥关键作用。总体而言，这些结果支持“微生物功能风土”效应的存在，作为酿酒葡萄之间葡萄园规模变异的决定因素。