Reconstruction of Parental SSR Haplotypes from a Single Grape Seed

Microsatellite (‘single sequence repeats’, SSR) markers were widely used in the last decade for the identification of parents of a given grapevine variety or for pedigree reconstruction as well. By now the pedigree of the majority of the most important varieties is established. At the same time, knowing both of the parents gives information about which one was the mother plant and which one was the pollinator. Analyses of archaeological grapevine seeds can give new opportunities in the research of the evolution of varieties. In most of the angiosperms, the endosperm is triploid with two genome equivalents from the maternal line and one from the paternal line. Our presumption was that this numeral difference in the maternal and paternal alleles causes measureable difference in the amplification of SSR alleles from grapevine seeds. To validate our method, pre-experiments were carried out on 12 ‘Pinot gris’ seeds, which verified our theory

Clonal Selection of Autochthonous Grape Varieties in Badacsony, Hungary

As the sensitivity of perennial crops to climate change becomes more pronounced, clonal selection, which is already very time-consuming for grapevine, may take even longer, while its importance is increasing. In the case of indigenous grapevine varieties, the purpose of clonal selection is twofold: to mitigate problems of cultivation and at the same time, to preserve the varietal character. The cultivation technique issue of ‘Kéknyelű’ is the low fertility (functionally female-flowered variety), and as for ‘Juhfark’ it is the significant susceptibility to grey rot. Based on daily meteorological data of 11 years, the years were classified into 3 groups and harvest data were analyzed within each group. Significant difference in yield was found between clone B.2. and the base ‘Kéknyelű’. Both clones of ‘Kéknyelű’ matured with significantly lower pH compared to the base variety. Given the acidic character of ‘Kéknyelű’ wine and the predicted rise in must °Brix and pH as a result of climate change, these differences may be useful in the future. Botrytis infection only showed statistically significant differences between year groups for ‘Juhfark’. It is intriguing that in most years, the rate of grey rot infection was lower in both clones compared to the base variety, especially in year groups 1 and 3 when the overall rate of Botrytis infection was quite low