Identification of potential protein markers of noble rot infected grapes.

The evaluation of Botrytis cinerea as noble rot on withered grapes is of great importance to predict the wine sensory/organoleptic properties and to manage the winemaking process of Amarone, a passito dry red wine. This report describes the first proteomic analysis of grapes infected by noble rot under withering conditions to identify possible markers of fungal infection. 2-D gel electrophoresis revealed that protein profiles of infected and not infected grape samples are significantly different in terms of number of spots and relative abundance. Protein identification by MS analysis allowed to identify only in infected berries proteins of B. cinerea that represent potential markers of the presence of the fungus in the withered grapes.