Wild Grapevines of the Americas: A Conservation Plan in "Plants, People, Planet"

Danforth Center VP of Research Allison Miller, PhD, is among the coauthors of new research documenting the native grape diversity behind the world's vineyards and a plan to protect it

ST. LOUIS, MO (July 28, 2026)— Nearly every glass of wine, handful of raisins, and bunch of grapes consumed anywhere in the world grows on rootstock that traces its origin back to North America. It's an unlikely fact of modern agriculture, and it points to something researchers are working to safeguard: wild grapevine diversity. A new collection of research published in the journal Plants, People, Planet, coauthored by Donald Danforth Plant Science Center Principal Investigator Allison Miller, PhD, documents the status of these native species and charts a course for conserving them for the future of viticulture. 

For Miller, the work connects directly to her own research. Principal Investigator and Vice President of Research at the Danforth Center, Miller is also a professor of biology at Saint Louis University. She studies perennial, long-lived crops and how they can support a more sustainable agricultural system. Grapevines, one of the world's oldest perennial crops, have long been a focus of her lab. Miller also serves on the editorial board of Plants, People, Planet. For this newly published work, she joined an international group of curators, conservationists, and breeders as a coauthor on the collection, contributing to research that assesses how well these species are protected and where conservation efforts should concentrate. 

The grape genus, Vitis, is far more diverse than the single species behind most of the world's wine suggests. While Vitis vinifera was domesticated in Eurasia and accounts for almost all commercial wine and table grapes, most of the genus's genetic diversity is native to North America. That diversity is not a botanical curiosity. When the soil-borne pest phylloxera devastated European vineyards in the 19th century, growers turned to pest-resistant North American rootstocks to save the industry, a practice that continues worldwide today. As vineyards face mounting pressure from climate change and pests, breeders increasingly rely on hybrids of V. vinifera and North American species for resilience. 

Yet several Vitis species are threatened in their natural habitats, and many are poorly represented in the genebanks and botanic gardens that safeguard crop diversity outside the wild. The special collection documents the historical and current contributions of grape biodiversity, assesses research and conservation priorities, and outlines the crop's future potential, including a conservation gap analysis that identifies the taxa and regions where protection efforts are most urgently needed. 

The research is the product of a wide-ranging collaboration coordinated through the Global Conservation Consortium for Food Plants, hosted at the New York Botanical Garden, and involving botanic gardens, agricultural genebanks, the USDA, the Smithsonian, and universities across the country. The effort grew out of a gathering of grapevine curators, conservationists, and breeders at Oak Spring Garden five years ago, and Miller was among the researchers who carried it forward. 

"Grapevines are one of humanity's oldest cultivated crops, yet the wild species are quietly slipping away,” Miller said. “This collection gives us, for the first time, a clear picture of where that diversity lives, how well it's protected, and where we need to act. Conserving these species now is how we keep options open for growers—and, in turn, anyone who enjoys a glass of wine—for generations to come." 

For the Danforth Center, the work connects to a core part of its mission: to preserve and renew the environment. Safeguarding the wild relatives of a globally important crop is a concrete example of how plant science can protect the biological foundations that agriculture depends on. 

"Part of the Danforth Center's mission is to preserve and renew the environment, and this research is a direct expression of that," said Dr. Giles Oldroyd, president of the Danforth Center. "Wild grapevines are an ecosystem service in themselves, a genetic reservoir that has protected the world's vineyards before and will be essential again as growers contend with climate and disease pressures. Dr. Miller's contribution here is focused on conserving the diversity that the future of agriculture will rely on. Protecting wild grapevines today is an investment in resilient food and beverage systems tomorrow." 

The collection's authors note that the research is already inspiring action, with botanic gardens, genebanks, and land managers stepping up to better protect these species in the wild and in repositories, work that will continue to unfold over the coming years.