Molecular Characterization of Grapes (Vitis spp.) Using EST-derived Simple Sequence Repeat Markers

Abstract

The aim of this study was the molecular characterization of 27 grape accessions maintained at the ICAR – National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources, Regional Station, Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, India, using EST-derived five SSR primer pairs, and also to study the transferability of EST-SSRs across different species, interspecific hybrids, and one non-Vitis accession Parthenocissus quinquefolia. SSR bands were analyzed on ethidium bromide-stained 2.5% high-resolution agarose gels. A total of 31 distinct alleles were scored in 27 grape accessions, and the average number of alleles per locus was 6.2. The mean observed and expected heterozygosity values were 0.103 and 0.749, respectively. The number of effective alleles ranged from 3.415 to 4.766, with an average of 4.050. The polymorphism information content (PIC) ranged from 0.7072 to 0.8064, with a mean of 0.7650. The clustering dendrogram divided 27 grape accessions into 7 clusters and suggested the complex origins of some of the accessions. A good level of transferability of EST-SSRs across different species and interspecific hybrids was observed except in 2 grape accessions viz., Vitis arizonica/DVIT1269 and Parthenocissus quinquefolia/DVIT2400. A database of 5 EST-SSR markers was developed for future use in breeding and molecular studies.