Study of genetic relationships between wild and domesticated grapevine in the north of Morocco

Abstract

In Morocco, knowledge about the wild grapevines has been absent. Until now, no accurate inventory was available and the characterization of this wild grapevine group was lacking. In the present work, prospecting conducted in the North of Morocco (Rif) permitted us to inventory 18 sites with wild grapevines (10 to 50 km away from each other). A total of 168 individuals have been found. This material was analyzed with the 20 nuclear, 3 chloroplast SSR markers and 2 genes involved in the anthocyanin metabolic pathway. We compared the diversity of this material with 48 individuals from cultivated grapevines prospected in the same region, 50 cultivated grapevines from Tunisia and 30 from Algeria along with 128 wild grapevines from France. The diversity observed in the Moroccan wild group was slightly higher compared to other groups. Studies of the genetic structure were then carried out. Within the wild grapevines, the French and Moroccan samples were well differentiated. The wild group (of French or Moroccan origin) was also differentiated from the cultivated, thus revealing the wild status of this indigenous material. The analyses of the sequences showed the same SNP in the different group but the haplotypes reconstruction revealed the presence of specific haplotypes in the Moroccan material when compared with the cultivars group used in this study. This work, confirms the existence and the interest in the conservation of the wild grapevine in Morocco. We suppose that these wild vines contain interesting genes which facilitate the adaptation of grape to its environment. Key words: Vitis vinifera, gene flow, genetic diversity, Morocco, plant conservation genetics.