Genetic relationships among grapevine cultivars grown in Oltrepò Pavese (Italy)

In order to evaluate the genetic distance among 47 grapevineaccessions, including major and minor local cultivarsgrown in Oltrepò pavese (Pavia, Italy), DNA has been analysedwith the AFLP approach (VOS et al. 1995). The electrophoreticanalysis of the products amplified by 3 primercombinations showed high polymorphism.Furthermore, considering that DNA markers for haploid,uniparentally inherited genomes, such as the chloroplastDNA, are important indicators of pedigree, CpSSRanalysis was also performed and this identified cases ofmaternal common origin among the analysed cultivars.The results show that these molecular tools allow univocalgenotype identification and that the analysed germplasmhas a wide genetic dissimilarity. Results are coherentwith the postulation of a polycentric origin for theOltrepò pavese cultivars and of a multiple varietal flow fromdifferent viticultural regions. The molecular informationgathered in this research is essential for the establishmentof an appropriate presentation programme of autochthonousvarieties.