Phylogeographical structure and conservation genetics of wild grapevine

Abstract

The distribution of Vitis vinifera subsp. silvestris, the wild grapevine subspecies of Vitis vinifera L., has been dramatically reduced in its major sites of diffusion, at first by the spread, over the last 150 years, of pathogens from North America and, more recently, with fragmentation of habitat and disbranching by humans. In this work, 418 wild grapevine samples, belonging to 78 populations, were collected in their main Mediterranean distribution areas, including the Caucasus area, and the extent of their genetic variability evaluated by analysing plastid microsatellite DNA polymorphism. Results show low haplotype diversity value, with five haplotypes detected within the analysed populations. The highest within-population haplotypic diversity, with the presence of all five detected haplotypes, was found in the Caucasus regions and in the central regions of Italy. The distribution of all detected haplotypes suggests the Caucasian region as the possible center of origin of Vitis vinifera subsp. silvestris. A principal plastid lineage was found to be fixed in several locations, in the Northernmost European countries and in the Southern island of Sardinia. These results draw attention to two different refugium sites in the Mediterranean basin and suggest that conservation priority should be given to grapevine populations still preserved in hotspots of these regions.

Genotypes and phenotypes of an ex situ Vitis vinifera ssp. sylvestris (Gmel.) Beger germplasm collection from the Upper Rhine Valley

“…Further information on the genetic background of accessions studied here could be obtained analysing their haplotypes employing cp-SSR markers as previously done by e.g., Grassi et al (2006) or Imazio et al (2006). This data on plastid lineages could provide further insight into the distribution and/ or domestication of V. vinifera ssp.…”

Chloroplast diversity indicates two independent maternal lineages in cultivated grapevine (Vitis vinifera L. subsp. vinifera)

“…Hypervariable chloroplast regions, such as simple sequence repeats (cpSSRs), show higher polymorphism at lower taxonomic levels, but the risk of homoplasy is higher, especially when only length polymorphism is examined. In V. vinifera, cpSSRs are mostly mononucleotide (T or A) repeats that have been extensively used in phylogenetic and phylogeographic studies ArroyoGarcía et al 2006;Grassi et al 2006;Péros et al 2011;Riahi et al 2011).…”

Diversity and Genetic Erosion of Ancient Crops and Wild Relatives of Agricultural Cultivars for Food: Implications for Nature Conservation in Georgia (Caucasus)

“…All five haplotypes detected by using cpDNA microsatellite markers have been found in the Caucasian ecoregion suggesting that this area is possibly the centre of origin of both wild and cultivated grapevines (Grassi et al, 2006). However, only one provenance from Georgia has been analyzed in this study despite the number of populations of wild grapevine found in Georgia today that display morphological diversity (Ramishvili, 1988).…”