Plant Genome II Conference
Town & Country Conference Center, San Diego, CA, January, 1994.
PG-II: MICROSATELLITE LENGTH POLYMORPHISM WITHIN ANCIENT WINE GRAPE
CULTIVARS (VITIS VINIFERA L.)
MICROSATELLITE LENGTH POLYMORPHISM WITHIN ANCIENT WINE GRAPE
CULTIVARS (VITIS VINIFERA L.)
John E. Bowers and Carole P. Meredith, Department of Viticulture
and Enology, University of California, Davis, CA 95616.
Many of the classic wine varieties of Vitis vinifera L. are
ancient. Within these varieties, sub-types ("clones") have been
identified and maintained that possess distinct and desirable
attributes. Because environmental and systemic virus effects
have in most cases been ruled out, these differences are
attributed to genetic divergence due to the accumulation of
somatic mutations. Regions of the genome particularly amenable
to a search for such divergence include microsatellite sequences,
simple sequence repeats subject to length polymorphisms due to
polymerase slippage during DNA replication. A genomic library of
V. vinifera cv. Pinot noir was constructed and screened for
poly-CT regions by hybridization with a synthetic CT, probe.
Positive clones were sub-cloned if necessary to obtain inserts
less than 700 bp. Positive clones were then sequenced and PCR
primers were designed based on the sequences flanking the repeat
region. The primers were then used to amplify genomic DNA from
selected wine grapes. Forty-two positive clones were obtained
and are now being sequenced and characterized. Of the first 11,
the number of CT repeats ranged from 8 to 23. Six contained
perfect repeats and two were compound repeats that included AT
sequences. Primers flanking a (CT)13 locus were used to amplify
genomic DNA of 11 varieties, revealing 8 alleles. Preliminary
analyses of several clones each of the varieties Cabernet
Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Zinfandel and Pinot noir revealed a single
putative intra-variety polymorphism.
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