Plant & Animal Genome VI Conference

P67

SSR CHARACTERIZATION AND IDENTIFICATION OF PORTUGUESE Vitis vinifera CULTIVARS USED IN PORT WINE PRODUCTION

1. Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas de Abel Salazar, Universidade do Porto, Largo Prof. Abel Salazar, 2, 4000 Porto, Portugal
2. Instituto de Ciências e Tecnologias Agrárias e Agro-Alimentares, Universidade do Porto, Rua do Monte - Crasto - Vairão, 4480 Vila do Conde, Portugal
3. Department of Viticulture and Enology, University of California, Davis, Davis, California 95616, USA
4. Instituto Superior de Agronomia, Universidade Técnica de Lisboa, Tapada da Ayuda, Lisboa

The Douro Valley Region, where Port wine is produced, was the first demarcated wine region in the world. The cultivars chosen for this study are the most important in Port wine production. Previous methods of characterization and identification of Portuguese Vitis vinifera cultivars were based on phenotypical characteristics. We have been applying DNA fingerprinting methods to grapevine studies because of its objectivity. Here we present the results of the use of SSR fingerprinting. We adapted a DNA extraction method to our needs in the field by using silica gel as a desiccating and conservation agent. We use only a few milligrams of dried leaves for the extraction. All the process is done in 1.5 mL microtubes which permits savings in chemicals and enzymes, maintaining nevertheless, the quality of the extracted DNA for PCR analysis requirements. SSR markers were used to successfully characterize and identify the eight different cultivars.