Armenian national grapevine collection: Conservation, characterization and prospects

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 Institute for Grapevine Breeding, Julius Kuhn-Institut (JKI), Geilweilerhof, 76833 Siebeldingen, Germany
⁴ Department of Plant Growing Product Processing Technology, Armenian National Agrarian University, 74 Teryan, 0009 Yerevan, Armenia
⁵ Laboratory of Ethnogenomics, Institute of Molecular Biology of National Academy of Sciences RA, 7 Hasratyan, 0014 Yerevan, Armenia
⁶ Scientific Center of Viticulture, Fruit-Growing and Wine-Making of the Armenian National Agrarian University, 1139 Merdzavan, Armenia

Abstract

The general strategy for grapevine genetic resources conservation in Armenia encompasses the collection of the still existing diversity and the use of protection techniques to minimize the losses over time. Being studied mainly by ampelography, the genetic diversity of Armenian grapevine needs to be re-investigated in accordance with modern requirements and international scales. The purpose of the presented research was the first large-scale molecular characterization of Armenian grape varieties by molecular methods using a set of 24 simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers encompassing the nine SSR markers recommended by the European project GrapeGen06. The obtained results indicate the uniqueness of the major part of the investigated varieties and reveal a substantial level of genetic variation within the Armenian grapevine. Based on the realized large-scale investigation a true-to-type inventory of Armenian grape germplasm will be realized and documented in theVitis International Variety Catalogue and in the European Vitisdatabase. The next step having strategic importance in terms of conservation of grape genetic resources in Armenia will be establishment of the first ArmenianVitis database with multi-crop passport description of all varieties preserved in grape collection.