Genetic Diversity of Armenian Grapevine (Vitis vinifera L.) Germplasm: Molecular Characterization and Parentage Analysis

Abstract

Armenia is an important country of origin of cultivated Vitis vinifera subsp. vinifera and wild Vitis vinifera subsp. sylvestris and has played a key role in the long history of grape cultivation in the Southern Caucasus. The existence of immense grapevine biodiversity in a small territory is strongly linked with unique relief and diverse climate conditions assembled with millennium-lasting cultural and historical context. In the present in-depth study using 25 nSSR markers, 492 samples collected in old vineyards, home gardens, and private collections were genotyped. For verification of cultivar identity, the symbiotic approach combining genotypic and phenotypic characterization for each genotype was carried out. The study provided 221 unique varieties, including 5 mutants, from which 66 were widely grown, neglected or minor autochthonous grapevine varieties, 49 turned out to be new bred cultivars created within the national breeding programs mainly during Soviet Era and 34 were non-Armenian varieties with different countries of origin. No references and corresponding genetic profiles existed for 67 genotypes. Parentage analysis was performed inferring 62 trios with 53 out of them having not been previously reported and 185 half-kinships. Instability of grapevine cultivars was detected, showing allelic variants, with three and in rare cases four alleles at one loci. Obtained results have great importance and revealed that Armenia conserved an extensive grape genetic diversity despite geographical isolation and low material exchange. This gene pool richness represents a huge reservoir of under-explored genetic diversity.

Genetic diversity of some autochthonous white grape varieties from Romanian germplasm collections

“…The establishment of germplasm collections and the preservation of their richness require the use of both types of markers (morphological and molecular) for the correct identification of each accession and the efficient use of the preserved diversity. As with many other authors (Martinez et al 2003;Stavrakaki & Biniari 2017;Margaryan et al 2021), our results demonstrated the effectiveness of the ampelographic and molecular methods for assessing the genetic diversity among the grapevine accessions. Each type of marker, analysed by appropriate mathematical methods, brings additional and complementary information, which contributes to the correct assessment of the intra-and inter-varietal diversity of the grapevine genetic resources.…”

Exploring genetic diversity and population structure of a large grapevine (Vitis vinifera L.) germplasm collection in Türkiye

“…The archaeological record suggests that grapevine domestication began in southeastern Anatolia (the Asian part of Türkiye) or the region known as Transcaucasian about 6000 to 7000 years ago before grapevine cultivars spread throughout neighboring regions of Europe and Northern Africa ( Zohary et al., 2012 ; Mc Govern, 2003 ). During the spreading period via different routes, high genetic diversity among grapevine cultivars is a result of sexual reproduction ( Vouillamoz and Grando, 2006 ), ( Myles et al., 2011 ), and spontaneous mutations ( Margaryan et al., 2021 ). According to Vitis international variety catalog ( Maul and Töpfer, 2015 ), there are more than 12,000 documented grapevine cultivars.…”

Wild grapes of Armenia: unexplored source of genetic diversity and disease resistance

“…To identify feral types, we performed a parentage analysis between Armenian V. sylvestris and autochthonous cultivated accessions; the dataset from Caucasian wild and cultivated grapes also was used (unpublished data). Cervus 3.0.7 was applied as one of the approaches to screen the material (Margaryan et al, 2021).…”

“…The first large-scale study performed by Margaryan et al (2021) focused on genetic diversity and parentage analysis of 492 grapevine genotypes collected across country. The obtained high number of alleles (347 alleles, 14,485 allele/per loci), high level of observed and effective heterozygosity, and presence of female APT3-allele 366, which is absent in western European cultivars, illustrate the huge diversity of the Armenian germplasm.…”

“…Actually, very little is known about the magnitude of grape germplasm in Armenia. Until now, there have been only a few studies forwarded on characterization of native Armenian grape varieties using molecular-genetic approaches (Dallakyan et al, 2020;Margaryan et al, 2021;Nebish et al, 2021).…”