Molecular characterization of wild grapes from northeastern part of Turkey

Abstract

Progress in grape breeding requires the exploitation of genetic variation among market classes, races and gene pools. Wild grapevines (Vitis vinifera ssp. sylvestris) are being endangered in their natural habitats and high priorities should be given to the wild germplasm. Turkey is one of the richest sources of wild grapevine and they mostly grown on forest trees on river basin. The present study was carried out to determine the amount of genetic variation and the degree of relatedness among 23 wild grape genotypes using 17 simple-sequence-repeat markers (SSR). Two international grape cultivars, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot are also included study. Number of alleles per locus of the 17 Simple Sequence Repeat (SSR) markers ranged from 3.0 to 14.0 and a total of 162 alleles with an average of 9.53 alleles per locus. The average expected and observed heterozygosity values were 0.773 and 0.781, respectively, which exhibited high level of genetic diversity in the wild grape germplasm. The unweighted pair group method with arithmetic mean analysis revealed three main genetic clusters that partially separated wild grape genotypes each other and. The international cultivars formed a out group. The high genetic diversity among native wild grapes from Coruh valley is suggesting that this area could be one of the centre of diversity of the specie. The results indicate a substantial genetic diversity in V. vinifera ssp. sylvestris and the need of exploring a wider area to increase the chance of finding a particular genotype.