Genetic Study of Malvasia and Torrontes Groups through Molecular Markers

Abstract

Two important grapevine groups, Malvasia and Torrontes, have been studied by random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers and sequence-tagged microsatellite site (STMS) analyses. Study of 18 accessions of Malvasia group has allowed the establishment of 13 different varieties, 11 of which are represented by only one accession each. It could also be determined that only the two accessions named Turruntes (both from Haro, La Rioja) showed identical RAPD profiles and STMS alleles, while the other four were different varieties. The discrimination power of the techniques is high: any of the 10 RAPD primers or two of the eight STMS loci are enough to distinguish all of the different varieties. A dendrogram obtained from the entire data shows clearly that Malvasia and Torrontes are artificial groups.