News

Highlights of 2025

Our team has already shared key findings on magnesium deficiency in Welschriesling grapevines at several international events:

• Li-cor Workshop (27 May 2025)
  Magnesium Deficiency Disrupts Photosynthetic Performance in Welschriesling: Evidence from Dynamic Gas Exchange Modeling – Oral Presentation
• 25th Conference of the Austrian Society of Plant Biology (ATSPB 2025) – 29–31 May 2025
  A Multi-Omics Exploration of Magnesium Deficiency in Welschriesling Grapevines – Oral Presentation
• GIESCO 2025 in Geisenheim – 27–31 July 2025
  Exploring Magnesium Deficiency in Welschriesling Grapevines: A Multi-Omics Approach to Address Viticultural Challenges – Oral Presentation

These presentations strengthened our international collaborations and sparked valuable discussions with plant physiology and viticulture experts.

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Upcoming Presentation

Our next presentation will be in:

• DigAgro 2025 – 1–2 December 2025
  Epigenetic and Epitranscriptomic Regulation of Magnesium Deficiency Responses in Welschriesling Grapevine Clones – Poster Presentation

We welcome MSc. Iman Samiei, our PhD candidate, who is a
bioinformatician working on NGS data analysis for the INTRA project. His work focuses on the preparation of HMW DNA and RNA using long-read genomic technologies to investigate the Vitis genome for the simultaneous and direct detection of DNA and RNA base modifications related to magnesium deficiency. In addition to studying structural variations in the Vitis genome, he will focus on DNA and RNA methylation. These modifications play an essential role in gene expression and protein expression studies, including post-translational modifications, which could help us understand how gene expression profiles are affected by magnesium deficiency.

We welcome Dr. Hymavathi Salava, who has been working on various aspects of the INTRA project. Her work encompasses physiological measurements, whole transcriptomic analysis, variant calling, and the identification of epigenetic structures in selected genotypes.

We are pleased to welcome Dr. Daniel Tholen as a new member of our team. With his expertise in physiological analysis, he will make a valuable contribution to our project.

Likewise, we warmly welcome Dr. Luca Zoccarato. As an expert in bioinformatics analysis, he will help us to effectively analyze the data generated in our project and gain valuable insights.

The INTRA project: Improved Magnesium Nutrition of Grapevine through Comprehensive Analysis, a collaborative effort between BOKU (University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna) and the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Regions, and Tourism has started.