MOLECULAR MARKER ANALYSIS OF VITIS-VINIFERA ALBARINO AND SOME SIMILARGRAPEVINE CULTIVARS

'Albarino' (Vitis vinifera L.) is an important grape cultivar in Spain , morphologically diverse but subject to much misnaming. The objective s of the present work were to correct some of the more common misnamin gs concerning 'Albarino' and to evaluate the genetic variability withi n this cultivar by analyzing DNA polymorphisms using randomly amplifie d polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers and microsatellite techniques. Severa l accessions of 'Albarino' (16 accessions from Mision Biologica de Gal icia, one accession from El Encin, one accession from Rancho de la Mer ced), related cultivars ('Alvarinho', 'Caino blanco','Cainho branco', 'Loureiro'), and cultivars presumably identical to misnomers ('Savagni n blanc' and 'Gewurztraminer') were analyzed using 20 RAPD markers and six microsatellite loci. Both techniques revealed polymorphism among 'Albarino','Caino blanco','Albarino' from Rancho de la Merced and 'Lou reiro'. No polymorphism was detected among the 16 'Albarino' accession s from Galicia, the 'Albarino' accession from El Encin and 'Alvarinho' , nor among the 'Albarino' accession from Rancho de la Merced,'Savagni n blanc' and 'Gewurztraminer', nor between 'Caino blanco' and 'Cainho branco'. These results enabled us to clarify the main misnomers concer ning these cultivars. The absence of polymorphism among the true 'Alba rino' accessions did not allow the detection of any clonal variation. The suitability of both techniques for defining the cultivar level for grapevine is discussed.