Genetic relationships among grapevine cultivars grown in Oltrepo Pavese (Italy)

In order to evaluate the genetic distance among 47 grapevine accessions, including major and minor local cultivars grown in Oltrepo pavese (Pavia, Italy), DNA has been analysed with the AFLP approach (Vos et al. 1995). The electrophoretic analysis of the products amplified by 3 primer combinations showed high polymorphism. Furthermore, considering that DNA markers for haploid, uniparentally inherited genomes, such as the chloroplast DNA, are important indicators of pedigree, CpSSR analysis was also performed and this identified cases of maternal common origin among the analysed cultivars. The results show that these molecular tools allow univocal genotype identification and that the analysed germplasm has a wide genetic dissimilarity. Results are coherent with the postulation of a polycentric origin for the Oltrepo pavese cultivars and of a multiple varietal flow from different viticultural regions. The molecular information gathered in this research is essential for the establishment of an appropriate presentation programme of autochthonous varieties.