The Current Status of Wild Grapevine Populations (Vitis vinifera ssp sylvestris) in the Mediterranean Basin

Abstract

The Eurasian grapevine (Vitis vinifera L) is the most widely cultivated and economically im‐ portant fruit crop in the world (Mattia et al. 2008). Vitis vinifera L includes the cultivated form V. vinifera ssp vinifera and the wild form V. vinifera ssp sylvestris, considered as two subspecies based on morphological differences. However, it can be argued that those differ‐ ences are the result of the domestication process (This et al. 2006). The wild form, considered the putative ancestor of the cultivated form, represents the only endemic taxon of the Vita‐ ceae in Europe and the Maghreb (Heywood and Zohary 1991). Grapevine domestication has been linked to the discovery of wine (McGovern 2004). Although wild grapevines were spread over Southern Europe and Western and Central Asia during the Neolithic period, ar‐ cheological and historical evidence suggest that primo domestication events would had oc‐ curred in the Near-East (McGovern et al. 1996). In addition, several studies have shown evidence supporting the existence of secondary domestication events along the Mediterra‐ nean basin (Aradhya et al. 2003; Grassi et al. 2003, Arroyo-Garcia et al. 2006; Lopes et al. 2009; Andres et al., 2012). Recent genetic analyses using a large SNP platform provided genetic evidence supporting the Eastern origin of most cultivated germplasm as well as the exis‐ tence of introgression from wild germplasm in Western regions, likely as the consequence of those predicted secondary domestication events (Myles et al. 2010). Distinction between wild and cultivated forms of Vitis vinifera L is mainly based on morphological traits. The most conspicuous differential trait is plant sex: wild grapevines are dioecious (male and female plants), while cultivated forms are mostly hermaphrodite plants, with self fertile hermaph‐ rodite flowers (This et al. 2006).