Genotyping of sixteen grapevine (Vitis vinifera) varieties in Palestine using microsatellite markers

Abstract

Cultivated grapevines (Vitis vinifera L. ssp. Sativa) are economically the second important fruit-trees after olives in Palestine with more than 20 cultivars covering about 7% of the total cultivated lands and an annual production of 55,000 tons. In this study, sixteen grapevine cultivars from Palestine were genotyped based on variations among thirteen microsatellite loci. A total of 27 alleles, ranging from 165-280bp in size were detected at 12 of the tested loci excluding Scu03vv locus which produce 10 alleles with an unexpected size range of 350-3000bp. The amplification products in 11 out of the 13 microsatellite loci showed polymorphism among the 16 grapevine cultivars. The two markers that showed no polymorphism are VVMD5 and Cc5sr5. The total number of alleles per locus ranged from 1 to 4 with the highest heterozygosity observed for the loci VVS2 and VrZAG21 with 4 alleles per locus. In five of the loci, namely VVMD31, VVMD17, VrZAG62, VVMD27, and VrZAG79, only two alleles per locus were identified that were either homozygous or heterozygous in the different cultivars. At three other loci (CCSSR5, VVMD7, and VVMD5), only homozygous alleles were detected. In part of the cultivars, three alleles per each of the loci VVMC8A4, VVMD32, and VrZAG21were detected. A phenogram was established based on genetic similarities using the Neighbor-Joining method and the genetic relationships among the cultivars were further determined by the Principal Coordinates Analysis. The cultivars were resolved into two major groups encompassing a total of four clusters. The genetic relatedness among the cultivars was not always in accordance with their identification based on ampelographic properties. For example, the cultivars Shami A and Shami B which have the same origin and share high morphological traits were resolved into two different clusters according to the studied loci. This study represents the first microsatellite-based genotyping of the grapevine varieties cultivated in Palestine.