Chloroplast Microsatellites Markers to Assess Genetic Diversity in Wild and Cultivated Grapevines of Iran

To assess the haplotype diversity and genetic relationship between them, A set of 69 Iranian cultivated accessions, six European cultivars and an accession of Vitis labrasca along with 63 wild grapevine individuals were studied using chloroplast microsatellite markers. Results showed that among analyzed cpssr loci only ccmp 3 and ccmp10 were polymorphic within cultivars and only ccmp3 was polymorphic in wild grape individuals. The size variants of both loci combine in a total of 4 different haplotypes. All the 4 haplotype are displayed in the cultivars while only 2 are presented in wild grapes. Sultani or keshmeshi Bidane cultivar has the haplotype III that there is not this haplotype among the wild grapes of studied regions. Concerning to existence of both haplotypes I and II in the number of Iranian cultivated and wild grapes, it is possible to consider that the wild grapes are ancestor of some of our native cultivars

The use of AFLP and morphological markers to study Iranian grapevine germplasm to avoid genetic erosion

Molecular and morphological analyses have been used to define and clarify the relationships among the 54 most representative grapevine cultivars in Iran. A total of 459 scorable AFLP fragments, across all the accessions analysed, were detected. Among these, 185 (40.3%) were polymorphic. Values of genetic diversity, calculated by the Nei and Li index, ranged from 0 - 0.3. Our results highlight cases of different cultivars displaying the same AFLP profile and similar morphological characteristics, proving the occurrence of synonyms in Iranian germplasm. Combining AFLP results and morphological descriptions two cases of wrong attribution were also observed: 'Saghal Solian-2' was renamed 'Mosli' and 'Khalili Qermez' was now called 'Khalili Sefid'. Morphological characterisation conducted using the IPGRI descriptors, showed large variability among the accessions analysed mainly in young shoot and leaf colour, and in bunch size. Although synonyms were detected and genomic similarities were verified, genetic differences and the richness observed in Iranian grapevine germplasm were not high, in contrast with their morphological characteristics. Wehypothesise that many Iranian morphotypes have been derived from mutation events in a few ancient genotypes; however, the system of selection may result in the biodiversity of Iranian grapevine being endangered. For this reason, our molecular and morphological characterisation will help in the development of conservation plans and in the re-organisation of local germplasm collections