Molecular characterization of wild grape populations from North Western Italy and their genetic relationship with cultivated varieties

In the last few years, four populations of Vitis vinifera L. subsp. sylvestris (Gmelin) Hegi were prospected and described in as many sites of Piedmont (North- Western Italy). 40 individuals were genetically characterized by SSR markers. Genetic profiles based on 12 loci were compared to those obtained from cultivated varieties, mainly from Northern Italy (even if not exclusively), including local, traditional cultivars, often endangered to disappear. The genetic structure was examined and compared in the wild and cultivated plants. This study confirmed that the wild grapevine compartment was well differentiated from the domesticated one, providing though an original, unique source of allele diversity. Yet, about 50 out of the 269 examined cultivars appeared much closer than the others to the genetic profile of wild grapes. Therefore they have been analyzed together with the sylvestris individuals and with few other cultivars of great importance in Italy and Europe at 20 SSR loci. Several cultivars (among which the wine grapes named ‘Lambrusco’ from the region of Emilia Romagna, North-Central Italy) still shared a high proportion of alleles with the wild grapes, suggesting though the occurrence in that area of domestication events with the significant contribution of the local wild germplasm. Yet, most of the major cultivars from North-Western Italy (the area where the analyzed individuals of subsp. sylvestris were prospected) were genetically rather distant from their wild counterpart.