Genetic identification and characterization of Armenian grapevine cultivars

¹ Department of Genetics and Cytology, Yerevan State University, 1 Alex Manoogian, 0025 Yerevan, Armenia
² Research group of Plant genetics and Immunology, Institute of Molecular Biology of National Academy of Sciences RA, 7 Hasratyan, 0014 Yerevan, Armenia
³ Scientific Center of Viticulture, Fruit-Growing and Wine-Making of the Armenian National Agrarian University, 1139 Merdzavan, Armenia
⁴ Institute for Grapevine Breeding, Julius Kühn-Institut (JKI), Geilweilerhof, 76833 Siebeldingen, Germany
⁵ Laboratory of Ethnogenomics, Institute of Molecular Biology of National Academy of Sciences RA, 7 Hasratyan, 0014 Yerevan, Armenia

^a e-mail: anita.nebish@gmail.com

Abstract

Armenia is an important area of crop origins including grapes. The objectives of this study were the molecular characterization of 38 Armenian grape genotypes and the detection of the genetic relationships between the accessions. In total, 164 alleles were obtained at 18 SSRs loci. The number of alleles per locus ranged from 5 to 15 with a mean number of 9.17 alleles per locus. The expected heterozygosity ranged from 0.514 (VVIN73) to 0.90 (VVS2) and the observed heterozygosity from 0.417 (VVIV37) to 0.947 (VVMD7 and VMC1B11). In our research the highest values of polymorphic information content (PIC) were obtained using markers VVS2, VRZAG62 and VRZAG79, while the least informative ones were VVIN73 and VVIB01. A high level of gene diversity was observed between ancient and new bred cultivars. Higher values were recorded for the new grape varieties, (He = 0.792) and lower values for ancient cultivars (He = 0.739). The mean number of alleles (MNA) for all loci per population ranged from 7.39 in ancient to 8,00 in new crosses. A clear separation was observed for the groups of ancient aboriginal cultivars, Vitis vinifera L.xVitis vinifera L. and Vitis vinifera L. x Vitis amurensis Rupr .crosses, which were bred in Armenia and seedless cultivars. Very close relationships with high similarity were determined for 5 pairs of cultivars. Two cases of possible homonymy were also detected. Our results are the basis for future MAS selection and target breeding.