Abstract
More than 100 grapevine varieties are registered as suitable for wine production in “Douro” and “Trás-os-Montes” Protected Designations of Origin regions; however, only a few are actually used for winemaking. The identification of varieties cultivated in past times can be an important step to take advantage of all the potential of these regions grape biodiversity. The conservation of the vanishing genetic resources boosts greater product diversification, and it can be considered strategic in the valorisation of these wine regions. Hence, one goal of the present study was to prospect and characterise, through molecular markers, 310 plants of 11 old vineyards that constitute a broad representation of the grape genetic patrimony of “Douro” and “Trás-os-Montes” wine regions; 280 samples, grouped into 52 distinct known varieties, were identified through comparison of their genetic profiles generated via 6 nuclear SSR and 43 informative SNP loci amplification; the remaining 30 samples, accounting for 13 different genotypes, did not match with any profile in the consulted databases and were considered as new genotypes. This study also aimed at evaluating the population structure among the 65 non-redundant genotypes identified, which were grouped into two ancestral genetic groups. The mean probability of identity values of 0.072 and 0.510 (for the 6 SSR and 226 SNP sets, respectively) were determined. Minor differences were observed between frequencies of chlorotypes A and D within the non-redundant genotypes studied. Twenty-seven pedigrees were confirmed and nine new trios were established. Ancestors of eight genotypes remain unknown.
Highlights
The wine denominations “Douro”, the oldest demarcated and regulated winemaking region in the world, and “Trás-os-Montes”, represent approximately 29% of the Portuguese vineyard area for wine production (22 and 7%, respectively) [1]. These Protected Designations of Origin (PDO) situated in Northeast Portugal have an ancient and diverse viticulture history and they are characterised by their mountains with steep slopes and valleys propitious to the existence of distinct microclimates, which led to the evolutionary need of grapevine adaptation to different conditions [2]
Traditional viticultural practices and local climates were crucial to the high genetic diversity observed in these wine regions
Identification of grape varieties has been generally based on the phenotypic traits of vegetative and reproductive structures, but morphological features are not sufficiently reliable for the classification of closely related varieties due to genotype–environment interactions [7]
Summary
The wine denominations “Douro”, the oldest demarcated and regulated winemaking region in the world, and “Trás-os-Montes”, represent approximately 29% of the Portuguese vineyard area for wine production (22 and 7%, respectively) [1] These Protected Designations of Origin (PDO) situated in Northeast Portugal have an ancient and diverse viticulture history and they are characterised by their mountains with steep slopes and valleys propitious to the existence of distinct microclimates, which led to the evolutionary need of grapevine adaptation to different conditions [2]. The global exchange of clonally propagated materials over time, across distinct geographic and edaphoclimatic regions has challenged the morphological identification of grape genotypes [8] In this sense, molecular characterisation, mainly through microsatellites (or Simple Sequence Repeats, SSRs) and Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs), is the favoured way to characterise diversity within a germplasm repository for varietal identification [9–13]
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