Evaluation of microsatellite sequence-tagged site markers for characterizing Vitis vinifera cultivars.

Twenty four cultivars and clones from Italian germplasm collections were DNA typed for the four sequence-tagged microsatellite sites VVS1-FP, VVS2-JOE, VVS5-FP and VVS29-TAM. The analysis was performed using primers labelled with different fluorochromes and using a GENESCAN apparatus. The results were compared with data obtained for samples from Australian collections. By comparing the combined genotype of the studied loci all the cultivars could be singularly distinguished except Favorita, Pigato and Vermentino, thus supporting the hypothesis that all three are the same cultivar. Cultivars common to Italian and Australian germplasm collections were found to have the same genotype indicating that the study of microsatellites as sequence-tagged site (STS) markers is a suitable universal system for worldwide grapevine cultivar identification. Application of the semi-automated GENESCAN system made the analysis of microsatellite STS markers fast and reproducible between laboratories.