Identiﬁcation of grapevine accessions from Argentina introduced in the ampelographic collection of Domaine de Vassal

. The study of accessions from Argentina may provide a valuable testimony on the origins of the different genetic resources and varieties which were sought and used to develop the vineyard of this country. 54 accessions introduced in the Vassal collection were analyzed using 20 microsatellite markers and ampelographic descriptors. Among them, 43 distinct varieties have been identiﬁed: 22 correspond to old traditional wine or table grape varieties from Europe and Middle East, 12 are probably varieties selected in Argentina or South America and are mostly descendants of Muscat of Alexandria and Mission, 4 are seedlings obtained in Italy, USA and Bulgaria, 2 are speciﬁc mutants and 3 are still currently original and of undetermined origin. These results highlight the links and help to trace the ﬂows that have existed between the ancient world and Argentina. They are a particularly good example of the interest of the 2 traditional ways of multiplication which may exist for the vine, cuttings and seedlings. Some of these resources are now also highly original and rare and must be preserved.


Introduction
In most of the countries of the new world, the viticulture has started to be introduced between the 16 th century and the 18 th century. In such countries, one of the main issues to develop successfully the viticulture was to find the varieties the most adapted to these specific environmental conditions. To achieve this goal, many trials, testing and introductions of material had to be done. Thereby, different varieties according to the countries have been introduced and have allowed the development of the viticulture, sometimes by luck, but also by the work and the insight of some growers, researchers, enthusiasts or personalities. The analysis and identification of accessions from Argentina may provide a valuable testimony on the origins of the different genetic resources and varieties which have been sought and used to develop the vineyard and the grape production specificity of this country. It may also provide a special light on the mode of distribution of the grapevine varieties and the respective viticultural influences of countries from which they come from [1,2].

Material and methods
54 accessions from Argentina were introduced in the Vassal collection between 1952 and 1996. They come from the old collections of INTA and from different vineyards of this country (Table 1). These accessions have been analyzed using 20 microsatellite markers according to Laucou et al [3]. The profiles obtained were compared to the profiles previously referenced in the data base of INRA with a specific query created to detect the duplicates and to identify the samples. Today the dataset represents 2722 unique profiles of Vitis vinifera varieties. When similarities between DNA profiles were detected, they were then checked at the phenotypic and ampelographic levels to confirm the identifications by morphological comparisons following the code of description proposed by OIV [4].

Results
Finally, of the 54 accessions, 43 distinct varieties have been identified after DNA genotyping and ampelography checking ( Table 2).
Among them, 22 varieties correspond to old traditional wine or table grape varieties from Spain, France, Italy [5], but also from Hungary, Greece, Turkey, Syria and Lebanon. 12 varieties are probably varieties selected in Argentina or South America and are mostly descendants of Muscat of Alexandria and Mission [6][7][8] (Table 3). In this category Torrontes mendocino is an exception and for the moment none of its parents were found. 4 varieties (Moscato Cerletti, Gold, Ruby Cabernet, Yubiley) are seedlings obtained in Italy, USA and Bulgaria. 2 varieties are specific mutants (Almeria rosada, Mission mutant floral) and 3 varieties (Arvina di Petralia, Santa Paula faux, Sauvignon piccolo faux) are still original and of undetermined origin.

Discussion and conclusion
These results highlight the links and help to trace the flow and the relationships that have existed between the ancient world and Argentina, which led to the specificity of the present Argentina vineyard. They are a particularly good example of the interest of the 2 traditional ways of multiplication which may exist for the vine: cuttings to introduced already existing and possibly interesting varieties and seedlings to select new genotypes adapted to the specific environmental conditions of the country. Some of these resources are now also highly original and relatively rare that is why some effort must be done to preserve them by the best possible way.