Assessing the genetic variability of grape clones

In this work, to understand clonal genetic variability within six wine grape cultivars, we adopted three different methods. Firstly, we carried out a Transposon Display analysis on 141 grape genotypes, which correspond to 47 clones (both registered and biotypes) belonging to the ‘Pinot Noir’, ‘Pinot Gris’, ‘Pinot Blanc’, ‘Meunier’, ‘Teroldego’ and ‘Gewürztraminer’ cultivars in 3 biological replicates (plants). We tested them using 17 primers targeting specific regions of 6 different Transposable Element families. Secondly, by using 6 triallelic SSR markers we have analysed four tissues (leaf, berry skin, flesh and root) of the 19 registered clones. Finally, we have genotyped the same set of samples by the SNPlexTM Genotyping System, testing 430 electronic SNPs identified in coding and non-coding regions of the ‘Pinot Noir’ ENTAV 115 grape genome. Based on SNPlex results, we are currently resequencing the regions with a high level of polymorphism to confirm the presence of clonal mutations. Here we report the results of the polymorphisms identified with the different approaches and putatively enabling molecular characterization of clones within international and local grape varieties