The Edmund Mach Foundation, formerly the ''Istituto Agrario di San Michele all’Adige'' (IASMA), is an agrarian institution and

wine Wine is an alcoholic drink made from Fermentation in winemaking, fermented fruit. Yeast in winemaking, Yeast consumes the sugar in the fruit and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Wine is most often made f ...

academy located in

Trentino Trentino (), officially the Autonomous Province of Trento (; ; ), is an Autonomous province#Italy, autonomous province of Italy in the Northern Italy, country's far north. Trentino and South Tyrol constitute the Regions of Italy, region of Tren ...

in north-east Italy. It was founded in 1874, when the Tyrolean

Diet Diet may refer to: Food * Diet (nutrition), the sum of the food consumed by an organism or group * Dieting, the deliberate selection of food to control body weight or nutrient intake ** Diet food, foods that aid in creating a diet for weight loss ...

at Innsbruck decided to open an agrarian school and research station at San Michele all’Adige, with the aim of improving agricultural practice in

Tyrol Tyrol ( ; historically the Tyrole; ; ) is a historical region in the Alps of Northern Italy and western Austria. The area was historically the core of the County of Tyrol, part of the Holy Roman Empire, Austrian Empire and Austria-Hungary, f ...

. The Institute has been located within the premises of former Augustinian

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of Monasticism, monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in Cenobitic monasticism, communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a ...

of San Michele then abandoned due to its

secularization In sociology, secularization () is a multilayered concept that generally denotes "a transition from a religious to a more worldly level." There are many types of secularization and most do not lead to atheism or irreligion, nor are they automatica ...

in 1807. The lombardo-venetian enologist

Edmund Mach Edmund is a masculine given name in the English language. The name is derived from the Old English elements ''ēad'', meaning "prosperity" or "riches", and ''mund'', meaning "protector". Persons named Edmund include: People Kings and nobles *Ed ...

was the academy's first director and the institute developed a reputation for work in

viticulture Viticulture (, "vine-growing"), viniculture (, "wine-growing"), or winegrowing is the cultivation and harvesting of grapes. It is a branch of the science of horticulture. While the native territory of ''Vitis vinifera'', the common grape vine ...

and enology.J. Robinson (ed). ''"The Oxford Companion to Wine"''. Third Edition, pg. 608, Oxford University Press 2006 Its mission today is to provide agricultural education, training and consultancy, and to conduct research and experimentation with the aim of "promoting cultural and socio-economic growth in the agricultural sector and at developing the forestry and agro-alimentary systems, with particular regard for the environment and the safeguard of the territory of the Trentino region". There is also a farm, devoted to grape and apple production, a wine cellar and a distillery.

Research

The institute is home of Italy's most extensive ampelographic collection of grape specimens including both indigenous Italian varieties as well as grapes varieties from around the world. The academy conduct wide scale research into various areas of interest to Italian

and

winemaking Winemaking, wine-making, or vinification is the production of wine, starting with the selection of the fruit, its Ethanol fermentation, fermentation into alcohol, and the bottling of the finished liquid. The history of wine-making stretches over ...

including cataloging the DNA profile and

genomic Genomics is an interdisciplinary field of molecular biology focusing on the structure, function, evolution, mapping, and editing of genomes. A genome is an organism's complete set of DNA, including all of its genes as well as its hierarchical, ...

of grape varieties, studying the analysis of

wine aromas Wine is an alcoholic drink made from fermented fruit. Yeast consumes the sugar in the fruit and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Wine is most often made from grapes, and the term "wine" generally refers ...

and flavors as well the role of

phenolic compounds in wine Phenolic compounds— natural phenol and polyphenols—occur naturally in wine. These include a large group of several hundred chemical compounds that affect the taste, color and mouthfeel of wine. These compounds include phenolic acids, sti ...

. In 2007 Velasco et al. completed a 6.5x draft genome of the Pinot Noir clone ENTAV 115 and uncovered a significant number of genes which they purport to encode disease resistance elements. Another major area of research for the Foundation, is the pheno-genetic improvement of

apple An apple is a round, edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus'' spp.). Fruit trees of the orchard or domestic apple (''Malus domestica''), the most widely grown in the genus, are agriculture, cultivated worldwide. The tree originated ...

s (their

organoleptic Organoleptic properties are the aspects of food, water or other substances as apprehended via the senses—including taste, sight, smell, and touch. In traditional U.S. Department of Agriculture meat and poultry inspections, inspectors p ...

qualities: taste-color-shape- crunchiness-

preservation Preservation may refer to: Heritage and conservation * Preservation (library and archival science), activities aimed at prolonging the life of a record while making as few changes as possible * ''Preservation'' (magazine), published by the Nat ...

, etc.) and apple trees’ architecture (such as output, columnarity, self-cleaning and pest/

disease resistance Disease resistance is the ability to prevent or reduce the presence of diseases in otherwise susceptible hosts. It can arise from genetic or environmental factors, such as incomplete penetrance. Disease tolerance is different as it is the abilit ...

in order to reduce the use of

pesticide Pesticides are substances that are used to control pests. They include herbicides, insecticides, nematicides, fungicides, and many others (see table). The most common of these are herbicides, which account for approximately 50% of all p ...

s). All of this obtained by classical plant breeding supported by molecular breeding:

DNA sequencing DNA sequencing is the process of determining the nucleic acid sequence – the order of nucleotides in DNA. It includes any method or technology that is used to determine the order of the four bases: adenine, thymine, cytosine, and guanine. The ...

and

analysis Analysis (: analyses) is the process of breaking a complex topic or substance into smaller parts in order to gain a better understanding of it. The technique has been applied in the study of mathematics and logic since before Aristotle (38 ...

Recent discoveries

In the early 21st century, DNA research by José Vouillamoz of the Istituto Agrario di San Michele all’Adige discovered that ancestors of

Sangiovese Sangiovese is a red Italian wine grape variety that derives its name from the Latin , "blood of Jove, Jupiter". Sangiovese Grosso, used for traditionally powerful and slow maturing red wines, is primarily grown in the central regions of Italy ...

are most likely the Tuscan grape

Ciliegiolo Ciliegiolo is a variety of red wine grape from Italy, named after the Italian for 'cherry'. It is a minor component of traditional blends such as Chianti, but interest has revived in recent years. In Umbria it is made into a light quaffing wine ...

and southern Italian grape Calabrese Montenuovo.

Apple genome decodification

During 2007 and 2008, apple

DNA Deoxyribonucleic acid (; DNA) is a polymer composed of two polynucleotide chains that coil around each other to form a double helix. The polymer carries genetic instructions for the development, functioning, growth and reproduction of al ...

sequences (around 13 billion sequenced

nucleotides Nucleotides are Organic compound, organic molecules composed of a nitrogenous base, a pentose sugar and a phosphate. They serve as monomeric units of the nucleic acid polymers – deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and ribonucleic acid (RNA), both o ...

) were produced; and in 2009 researchers assembled and reconstructed the

gene In biology, the word gene has two meanings. The Mendelian gene is a basic unit of heredity. The molecular gene is a sequence of nucleotides in DNA that is transcribed to produce a functional RNA. There are two types of molecular genes: protei ...

content and order into the 17 apple

chromosomes A chromosome is a package of DNA containing part or all of the genetic material of an organism. In most chromosomes, the very long thin DNA fibers are coated with nucleosome-forming packaging proteins; in eukaryotic cells, the most importa ...

. The apple genome decodification, published online by

Nature Genetics ''Nature Genetics'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal published by Nature Portfolio. It was established in 1992. It covers research in genetics. The chief editor is Tiago Faial. The journal encompasses genetic and functional genomic studies ...

, was coordinated by the Foundation E. Mach – Ist. Agrario San Michele all’Adige and is of worldwide interest. The data obtained will allow new varieties of apple to be developed more quickly than with classical breeding, resulting in plants with self-defence mechanisms against diseases and insects and which produce healthier and tastier fruits.''The Apple Genome Initiative''
/ref>

References

External links

* {{Authority control Agricultural universities and colleges Oenology Trentino Agricultural organisations based in Italy Organizations established in 1874 1874 establishments in Italy San Michele all'Adige