Awards issued prior to january 20, 2025, were funded under previous administrations and may not reflect the priorities and policies of the current administration.** muscadine grapes are native to…

Awards issued prior to january 20, 2025, were funded under previous administrations and may not reflect the priorities and policies of the current administration.** muscadine grapes are native to southeastern USA and primarily grown for table and wine making. Despite high nutraceutical value and health benefits they are not preferred over european bunch grape because of their low sugar content and short product shelf life. High level of natural sugar is crucial in developing berry since IT serves as a primary substrate and carbon backbone for secondary metabolites production. According to our findings, muscadine grape is a sucrose-accumulator while bunch grape a hexose-accumulator which negatively impacts sugar transport to muscadine berry. Our research also showed that that photosynthetic efficiency may not be a regulating factor for low sugar accumulation in muscadine grape. Hence, we propose to take a functional genomics approachto identify candidate gene/s regulating sugar accumulation. The function of candidate gene/s will be validated in a heterlogous model system. This approach will help identify candidate gene/s to develop high sugar muscadine grape for improving its product quality and market value. These activities will also help build famu capacity in functional genomics, develop competent workforce, support stakeholder needs, and enhance marketability to sustain muscadine grape industry.