Grapes is extremely economically important fruit crop that is consumed worldwide.

Grapes do not only possess intrinsic nutritional value, but they are also valuable due to the ever growing wine market. In this regard, Europe is a big contributor to the world’s wine market, accounting for 65 % of the global production, with this industry also playing a major role in the Portuguese national economy, where an increase in grape harvesting was observed in 2019 (+7.6 %).

Grapes are also a model of non-climacteric fruit ripening. Additionally, grapes (Vitis vinifera) are affected by three main fungal diseases: powdery mildew, downy mildew, and grey mould.

We are interested in the establishment of putative models of grape ripening and grape- pathogen interaction based on omics and how they vary among grapevine cultivars.

Tomato possesses a significant nutritional value and is one of the most widely consumed crops worldwide.

Among horticultural products, tomato ranks third regarding production volumes and ranks first regarding the processing volumes. According to Eurostat, in 2019, Portugal was the 6th biggest tomato producer in Europe, having a great impact on the Portuguese national economy.

Tomato is a model of climacteric fruit ripening. We are particularly interested in transcription factors as major regulators of gene expression during fruit development and ripening. Currently, we are studying the role of GRAS transcription factors in tomato ripening and defense against Botrytis cinerea.