IGA scientists have completed the genetic analysis of 1005 grapevine cultivars of the National Catalog of Grapevine varieties held at the CRA-Viticulture of Conegliano. The analysis was carried out using the DNA-based genotyping procedure adopted by the police worldwide to assign the identity to blood and other biological specimens.
The results, that appeared online on August 6, 2010 on the web site of the Theoretical & Applied Genetics, represent the first attempt to analyse a very large sample of grapevine cultivars altogether. The results are totally surprising and can be summarised as follows:
- 260 varieties matched one or more profiles of other varieties, thus resulting as genetically synonymous. Several of these synonyms are indeed a little different from each other at the visual inspection in the field. They represent natural mutations of the original genotype, occurred during the long vegetative propagation (dozens or hundreds of years) of these varieties, most of which are very popular, like the Pinots, the Muscats, the Sangiovese and others.
- 74 complete pedigrees were uncovered, with both parents of the cross identified. Many of these parentages were not previously known and are of considerable historical interest, e.g. Chenin blanc (Sauvignon x Traminer rot), Covè (Harslevelu selfed), Incrocio Manzoni 2–14 and 2–15 (Cabernet franc x Prosecco), Lagrein (Schiava gentile x Teroldego), Malvasia nera of Bolzano (Perera x Schiava gentile), Manzoni moscato (Raboso veronese x Moscato d’Amburgo), Moscato violetto (Moscato bianco x Duraguzza), Muscat of Alexandria (Muscat blanc à petit grain x Axina de tres bias) and others.
- The attempt of grouping the accessions resulted in a weak correlation with their geographical origin and/or current area of cultivation, revealing a large admixture of local varieties with those most widely cultivated, as a result of ancient commerce and population flow.
- The DNA microsatellite-based analysis showed a great capacity for discriminating amongst accessions, with probabilities of identity by chance as low as 1.45 x 10-27 and 9.35 x 10-12 for unrelated and full sib individuals, respectively. These data are very close to those reported in human fingerprinting
Further information
Title of the paper: The SSR-based molecular profile of 1005 grapevine (Vitis vinifera L.) accessions uncovers new synonymy and parentages, and reveals a large admixture amongst varieties of different geographic origin.
Authors: Guido Cipriani · Alessandro Spadotto · Irena Jurman · Gabriele Di Gaspero ·
Manna Crespan · Stefano Meneghetti · Enrica Frare · Rita Vignani · Mauro Cresti ·
Michele Morgante · Mario Pezzotti · Enrico Pe · Alberto Policriti · Raffaele Testolin
Journal: Theoretical & Applied Genetics (Springer)
Online article: http://www.springerlink.com/content/100386/
[DOI 10.1007/s00122-010-1411-9]
