Wine grapes.
In the mid-19th century, several new plant diseases made their way to Europe. Europe's traditional vine varieties turned out to be very vulnerable to these new pathogens. Genetic engineering gives plant breeders new ways of developing resistant varieties, but any quick fix is however not to be expected. Fungal diseases like grey mould, powdery mildew, and downy mildew are major problems in many of Europe's wine regions. They not only cause losses in yield, they also reduce wine quality. Cloudy and persistent fungal residues are a serious problem in the wine cellar. The intensive use of fungicides is still common in many vineyards. When infection is widespread, winegrowers may spray up to eight times per year. Even organic farmers can't forgo treatments against fungal diseases. They often spray with copper solutions, which pollute soil with heavy metals. Newer, but less effective methods include clay preparations and plant extracts.

Vines vulnerable to fungi.
Europe's traditional vine varieties are especially susceptible to fungal diseases. Because these new fungal pathogens were introduced to Europe from America in the 19th century, European vines never were able to develop resistance. Many attempts to cross Europe's varieties with resistant varieties from America have had little success; disease resistance always compromised quality. Although years of breeding have resulted in the development of new, fungus resistant vine varieties, modern breeding has not yet been able to provide fungus resistant versions of favorites like Riesling, Merlot, or Chardonnay.

Genetic research on resistance genes in vines.
Worldwide, several teams are working on transferring resistance genes into traditional vine varieties. Specifically transferring only the genes necessary for disease resistance would leave the vine's other traits virtually untouched. This would, possibly, retain the original character of the wine, which would not be possible using traditional breeding methods. If scientists succeed in developing fungus resistant vine varieties with genetic engineering, it would take years until any wine from these varieties would be available on the market. Scientists have identified several substances in barley that protect it against fungal pathogens. Transferring the genes that enable the production of these substances could protect vine varieties from pathogenic fungi. Chitinase enzyme genes have been transmitted in this way. Chitinase digests chitin - a substance found in fungal cells. Other strategies take advantage of genes coding for proteins that disrupt fungal metabolism (glucanase or ribosome-inhibiting proteins). It is not yet known if these strategies will be successful. Field trials conducted in Germany between 1999 and 2004 found that new, transgenic vines were just as susceptible to disease as conventionally bred varieties.

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