RAPD analysis of grapevine hybrids and cultivars

Utilization of the Randomly Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPD) technique as a molecular marker was tested to investigate the relationships between some representative grapevine cultivars and hybrids established at the Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding (CUB), to distinguish clones as well as to characterize various hybrids between species or cultivars and their parents. Vitis vinifera cultivars were easily and successfully distinguished by the RAPD technique and they were grouped according to the traditional taxonomic classification. RAPD patterns of the examined Pinot gris clones proved to be completely identical. Number of generations was reflected by the value of genetic distance of the examined hybrids. Genetic identity of parents and their offsprings was influenced by the selection applied in the process of plant breeding. Parental phenotypic and morphologic characteristics showed high degree of segregation in hybrids, but RAPD analysis revealed that their genetic similarity is considerable. The three Vitis anntrensis clones were properly discriminated from every cultivar and hybrid of Vitis vinifera, i.e. hybrids are much closer to the cultivated grapevine than to V. anzurensis due to the phenotypic selection carried out during the life-cycle of one or two generations.