Title "Characterization of volatile compounds released by grapevine under attack of different insects by using GC-MS and PTR-ToF-MS techniques"

Grapevine is subjected to attack of pests and diseases, which cause annually yield losses and compromise the quality of the harvest and of the wine. Besides, pesticides negatively affect human health and the environment. For these reasons there is an urgent need to develop new sustainable approaches that act complementary and/or alternatively to chemical control in viticulture. One of these alternatives relies on the use of the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) naturally produced by plants to communicate in the environment, responding differently to abiotic and biotic stresses.
In this work the VOCs emitted by plants of Vitis vinifera (L.), cv. Pinot noir, in response to the attack of different insects and mechanical damage has been studied for the first time. The chosen herbivores belong to insects of different feeding guilds and consist of the European grapevine moth Lobesia botrana (Denis & Schiffermüller) (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) and the green leafhopper Empoasca vitis (Göthe) (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae). Both species are key pests in today's viticulture. The larvae of the L. botrana bite and chew grape berries and occasionally leaves, causing direct damages on fruits and promoting the propagation of molds, while the E. vitis pierces and sucks the leaf veins, blocking the sap flow and causing hopperburns, affecting the physiology of the plant. The volatile compounds were collected for three days after exposing 1-year-old grapevine plants to the damage of these insects. To address this research an investigation with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) has been followed in order to achieve a precise characterization of all the released VOCs. In addition an on-line detection with proton transfer reaction time-of-flight mass spectrometry (PTR-ToF-MS) has been carried out to study the releasing dynamic of the most important volatile compounds during three days after each type of damage.