Genotyping of Vitis vinifera L. within the Slovak national collection of genetic resources

Microsatellites were used as a very effective tool for genetic diversity analysis and characterization of 51 grapevine (Vitis vinifera L.) accessions from the national collection of genetic resources. Genetic diversity was relatively high, 8.91 alleles were detected per analysed microsatellite locus in average, and fifty-one accessions were distinguished into 45 groups. Distribution of recent Slovak cultivars across the dendrogram accented both their genetic diversity and the effectiveness of the national breeding program in maintaining genetic diversity and generating new genetic variants. Each cultivar was different from the others and twelve of them contained 77.6% of the total genetic diversity of the whole analysed set. Microsatellite patterns were also able to confirm parentage in selected Slovak cultivars. An unusual phenomenon of triallelism was also detected in one of the analysed accessions. The present study has initiated molecular characterization within the national grapevine genetic resource collection and their comparison with well-established international cultivars.