Global viticulture has evolved following market trends, causing loss of cultivar diversity and traditional practices. In Montenegro, modern viticulture co-exists with a traditional viticulture that still maintains ancient practices and exploits local cultivars. As a result, this region provides a unique opportunity to explore processes increasing genetic diversity. To evaluate the diversity of Montenegrin grapevines and the processes involved in their diversification, we collected and analyzed 419 samples in situ across the country (cultivated plants from old orchards and vines growing in the wild), and 57 local varieties preserved in a grapevine collection. We obtained 144 different genetic profiles, more than 100 corresponding to cultivated grapevines, representing a surprising diversity for one of the smallest European countries. Part of this high diversity reflects historical records indicating multiple and intense introduction events from diverse viticultural regions at different times. Another important gene pool includes many autochthonous varieties, some on the edge of extinction, linked in a complex parentage network where two varieties (Razaklija and Kratošija) played a leading role on the generation of indigenous varieties. Finally, analyses of genetic structure unveiled several putative proto-varieties, likely representing the first steps involved in the generation of new cultivars or even secondary domestication events.

<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Aim</strong>: Given that the information about the origin, genetic relationships, and diversity of Montenegrin grapevines is still partial, we performed a detailed analysis of the germplasm in this country using simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers. Our main goal was to determine the identity of cultivars unique to Montenegro and those shared with other countries, especially the neighbouring ones.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Methods and results</strong>: Seventy samples were collected and 14 genotypes were found. After SSR profile comparison with available molecular databases and literature data, the identity of each genotype was established. Five well-known cultivars were found, the others being minor, lesser-known cultivars.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Conclusion</strong>: This research provides an overview of the Montenegrin grapevine assortment. There are cultivars shared with other countries, mainly the neighbouring ones, while others are likely native to Montenegro. The Kratošija population (<em>alias</em> Primitivo, Zinfandel and Crljenak Kaštelanski) has a large number of different names in Montenegro and also a wide morphological variability. Therefore, Montenegro is the best candidate as the origin and spreading point of this cultivar.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Significance and impact of the study</strong>: The present study adds information on the identity, origin, diffusion and variability of some grapevine cultivars, allowing us to reconstruct the history and evolution of national and transnational ampelographic assortment of Montenegro.</p>

As the name dehydrins implies, these proteins are typically expressed in response to dehydration which can be caused by drought, osmotic stress or freezing temperatures 1. In general, dehydrins occur in plants as multi-gene families. Four Arabidopsis dehydrins (LTI29, ERD14, COR47 and RAB18) have been tested for protection of thylakoid membranes during freeze thaw cycle in vitro. 2,3 Our firstly reported results show that dehydrins LTI29, ERD14, COR47 have cryoprotective activity while RAB18 did not protect the thylakoid membranes at low temperatures. The cryoprotective activity reached a maximum of 50% to 60% at protein concentration of 140-250 μg/ml in the assay. A contribution of dehydrins to freezing tolerance in vivo is supported by the observation of Nylander et al. (2001)4 that LTI29 and COR47 are cold induced at mRNA and protein expression level

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