Regulation of anthocyanin and sugar accumulation in grape berry through carbon limitation and exogenous ABA application

[Display omitted] •Source limitation decoupled sugar & anthocyanins accumulation, ABA alleviated it.•Shoot girdling had less effect on anthocyanin content than limiting leaf area.•ABA may regulate HT1 gene to increase sugar accumulation under source limitation (SL).•Sugar and ABA affect anthocyanin content most likely through a signalling effect.•The decrease of ABA caused by SL may be one of the reasons for the decoupling. To optimize vineyard management practices to adapt viticulture to climate change, knowledge of the regulation mechanism of metabolite accumulation under carbon source limitation and abscisic acid (ABA) application in grapes should be deepened. Here, carbon source limitations were imposed by reducing leaf area from 12 to 2 leaves per vine (at pea sized stage, − 2L-P; or one week prior to veraison − 2L-V) and phloem girdling between the second and third leaf from bottom to top (one week prior to veraison − 12L-girdling) were compared for their effects on berry composition. All three modalities significantly reduced sugar, anthocyanin and ABA content in comparison with berries under sufficient carbon supply (12 leaves per vine − 12L), with 2L-V being the greatest. Allowing leaf area to partially recover (2L-R) or berry ABA application (400 mg. L−1) one week before veraison increased the ratio of anthocyanin to sugar under source limitation. Combined with the analysis of berry metabolites and transcript abundances, our results indicate that source limitation and exogenous ABA co-regulated anthocyanins content through differential gene expression.