Decoding grapevine elicitation responses through cell culture metabolomics

Plant cell culture systems offer a reproducible and controlled platform for studying stress responses in grapevine. However, the extent to which grapevine cell cultures capture inducible metabolic features observed in organ-level systems remains insufficiently explored. Here, we established cell suspension cultures (CSCs) from two grapevine cultivars with contrasting reported disease susceptibility backgrounds, Cabernet Sauvignon and Chambourcin, and compared their jasmonic acid (JA)-induced metabolic responses with those observed in detached leaves. CSCs and detached leaves were elicited with JA, and their metabolic profiles were assessed at 2 and 5 days post-elicitation using Fourier-transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (FT-ICR MS) in negative ion mode. Putatively annotated metabolite candidates revealed cultivar- and time-dependent responses in both systems. Although CSCs and leaves retained distinct global metabolic profiles, a partial functional convergence was observed in selected categories, particularly oxidative stress defense, stress signaling, and secondary metabolism. These results support the use of grapevine CSCs as complementary platforms to investigate selected inducible stress responses, while highlighting the need for further validation in intact plants and targeted metabolite confirmation. Jasmonic acid elicitation induces cultivar-dependent metabolic responses in grapevine cell suspension cultures. Comparison with detached leaves reveals partial, time-dependent functional convergence, supporting the use of cell suspension cultures as complementary platforms for studying selected inducible stress responses in grapevine.