EVALUATION OF MICROSATELLITE SEQUENCE-TAGGED SITE MARKERS FOR CHARACTERIZING VITIS-VINIFERA CULTIVARS

Twenty four cultivars and clones from Italian germplasm collections we re DNA typed for the four sequence-tagged microsatellite sites VVS1-FP , VVS2-JOE, VVS5-FP and VV29-TAM. The analysis was performed using pri mers labelled with different fluorochromes and using a GENESCAN appara tus. The results were compared with data obtained for samples from Aus tralian collections. By comparing the combined genotype of the studied loci all the cultivars could be singularly distinguished except Favor ita, Pigato and Vermentino, thus supporting the hypothesis that all th ree 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) marker s is a suitable universal system for worldwide grapevine cultivar iden tification. Application of the semi-automated GENESCAN system made the analysis of microsatellite STS markers fast and reproducible between laboratories.