Microsatellite and AFLP Analysis of Autochthonous Grapevine Cultivars from Galicia (Spain)

Selected clones belonging to the most important autochthonous grapevine cultivars from Galicia (northwestern Spain) were analyzed using microsatellites and two AFLP methods. The goal was molecular identification of the analyzed germplasm using microsatellite and standard AFLPs analyses. The usefulness of a modified AFLP methodology for grapevine fingerprinting was also evaluated. Microsatellite analysis supported our cultivar assignment in accordance with other databases available, although the cultivar named Torrontes did not match with previously reported data, so further research will be necessary to clarify its genetic relationships and origin. Standard AFLP analysis on a subset of samples including at least one representative clone of each of the seven autochthonous cultivars allowed a clear differentiation among them, while no differentiation among clones of the same cultivar was obtained. To test a modified AFLP procedure, six selective primers were used to analyze the same subset of samples as for standard AFLPs. Although few scorable bands were obtained, a high percentage were polymorphic, allowing the unequivocally differentiation of all studied cultivars. In addition, 11 cultivar-specific bands were identified, which distinguished all cultivars except for Treixadura. This modified AFLP technique allowed us to obtain intravarietal fragments in the cultivars Albarino and Mencia. To our knowledge, this is the first report of application of this methodology to molecular characterization of grapevine cultivars.