Ampelographic and Molecular Characterisation of Aglianico Accessions (Vitis vinifera L.) Collected in Southern Italy

Abstract

To characterise 31 different Aglianico accessions randomly collected in Southern Italy, 30 ampelographic descriptors, 13 SSRs and 10 AFLP primer combinations were analysed. An appreciable variation of ampelographic descriptors was revealed mainly by mature leaf traits, while very few variations were recorded for shoot and berry traits. Similarly, all SSR loci revealed molecular monomorphism and AFLPs with a very high genetic similarity (Dice coefficient) among all the accessions considered. One of the aims of this study was to clarify the genetic assessment of Aglianico Nero and Aglianico del Vulture Nero, since they are registered as two different cultivars with distinct varietal codes at the Italian Register of Grape Varieties. Registered Aglianico Nero and Aglianico del Vulture Nero were included in the analyses, compared and used as reference material. Our plants showed that all the accessions tested, independent from the biotype, and the two registered cultivars belong to the same genotype, suggesting that, as reported by the Vitis International Variety Catalogue, a case of synonymy occurred between Aglianico Nero and Aglianico del Vulture Nero. These cultivars could therefore be considered as a single cultivar. Moreover, the AFLP data revealed a partial match between morphological and molecular data, showing that the AFLP molecular method was able to discriminate between different accessions belonging to the same cultivar.

Study of intra-varietal diversity in biotypes of Aglianico and Muscat of Alexandria (Vitis viniferaL.) cultivars

“…No relationship between polymorphic SNP loci and biotypes was detected, and the low number of polymorphic loci (four) could be related to more unreliable results than to genetic intra‐varietal variability. The genetic uniformity of Aglianico biotypes based on SNP profiles corroborated the results obtained with a small number of molecular markers (Costantini et al , Alba et al , De Lorenzis et al ). Nevertheless, a recent investigation on the VvMybA1 and VvMybA2 genes of Aglianico biotypes, involved in the biosynthetic pathway of anthocyanins (Boss et al , Kobayashi et al ), revealed allelic polymorphisms among biotypes, regarding the detection of functional and non‐functional alleles for both genes (De Lorenzis et al ).…”

“…Based on the Moio () results, Vulture had a high concentration of anthocyanins and a low concentration of phenolic substances both in skins and seeds, Taburno had the lowest concentration of anthocyanins, but the highest concentration of phenolic substances in seeds and Taurasi had an average concentration of these components. Moreover, the monophyletic origin of these biotypes was confirmed by DNA fingerprinting (Costantini et al , Alba et al , De Lorenzis et al ); however, the amplification of microsatellite (SSR) markers did not reveal differences in the allelic profile of Aglianico biotypes.…”

“…The intra‐varietal variability of Aglianico has been characterised already by the ampelographic, chemical and genetic standpoint (Moio , Alba et al ). The ampelographic data showed morphological differences among biotypes related mainly to the mature leaf; however, molecular markers were not able to discriminate among the biotypes.…”

Third Center of Domestication: Interaction between Genetics and Archaeological Sciences in Lands Devoted to Biodiversity of Grapevine Varieties

“…Confirmation occurs in the indirect relationship of Pinot Noir with Aglianico [36,37]. Both, they are well connected to their lands through progenies not yet identified.…”

Detection of Intra-Varietal Diversity Based on Differences in the Accumulation of Secondary Metabolites for Winemaking Management of High-Quality Red Wines

“…Vegetative propagation is commonly used for grapevine (Vitis vinifera L.) and this asexual propagation method ensures that the plants are genetically identical copies. Anyway, during this process, spontaneous somatic mutations could create new allelic variants in plants, which could yield to phenotypes different in some traits with respect to the original mother plant [2]. Ampelography and secondary metabolites profiles have proven to be the best tools for the characterisation of the intra-varietal variability of grapevine germplasm [3].…”