Discrimination of Portuguese grapevines based on microsatellite markers

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1 Journal of Biotechnology 127 (2006) Discrimination of Portuguese grapevines based on microsatellite markers M.S. Lopes a, M. Rodrigues dos Santos a, J.E. Eiras Dias b, D. Mendonça a,a.dacâmara Machado a, a Centro de Biotecnologia dos Açores, Departamento de Ciências Agrárias, Universidade dos Açores, Terra-Chã, Angra do Heroísmo, Portugal b Estação Vitivinícola Nacional, Quinta de Almoinha, 2560 Dois Portos, Portugal Received 6 March 2006; received in revised form 26 May 2006; accepted 14 June 2006 Abstract A set of 46 grapevine denominations was genotyped at 11 microsatellite loci in order to discriminate them. Ninety four alleles with a mean number of 8.55 alleles per locus were observed in a total of 37 detected unique genotypes. Previously assumed synonyms were confirmed and several cases of homonymy resolved. Comparison of the data obtained in this study with data of 32 genotypes previously reported enabled the detection of three parent offspring relationships, and identified other putative parent/progeny relationships. These data allowed understanding the origin of some Portuguese cultivars. The integration of the obtained data with ampelographic data would be very important for the accurate identification of the Portuguese cultivars and can become a significant tool for the certification of quality wines produced in specific regions Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Vitis vinifera; Genotyping; Microsatellites; SSRs; Germplasm management; Portugal 1. Introduction Portugal is by excellence a wine-producing region, due to its mild climate. The National Ampelographic Collection of Portugal contains about 450 Portuguese varieties, most of which are specific to Portugal. How- Corresponding author. Tel.: ; fax: address: amachado@notes.angra.uac.pt (A. da Câmara Machado). ever, the true number of different cultivars may be significantly lower as it is well known that some cultivars assume different names according to the region where they are grown. To overcome the existing confusion in grapevine nomenclature, SSR markers for genetic analysis of grapevine cultivars have been developed by different groups (Thomas and Scott, 1993; Bowers et al., 1996; Sefc et al., 1999; Pellerone et al., 2001; Lefort et al., 2002). One of the major applications of SSR markers in grapevines has been the identification and discrim /$ see front matter 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi: /j.jbiotec

2 M.S. Lopes et al. / Journal of Biotechnology 127 (2006) ination of cultivars in order to facilitate management of cultivar collections and control trade of plant material (Sefc et al., 2000). These markers have also been used in several parentage studies in grapevine (Bowers and Meredith, 1997; Bowers et al., 1999a; Lopes et al., 1999; Piljac et al., 2002; Sefc et al., 1997, 1998a). In order to discriminate between cultivars with very similar names, a set of 46 mainly Portuguese cultivars were genotyped at 11 microsatellite loci in the present study. The obtained data was further compared with data from 32 genotypes corresponding to 48 denominations previously characterized for the same markers by Lopes et al. (1999). 2. Material and methods Plant material (Table 1) was obtained from the National Grapevine Collection of the Estação Vitivinícola Nacional in Dois Portos and from the Instituto da Vinha e do Vinho. DNA was extracted from leaves as described by Thomas et al. (1993). Forty six cultivars were genotyped at 11 SSR loci: VVS2 (Thomas and Scott, 1993), VVMD5, VVMD6, VVMD7 (Bowers et al., 1996), ssrvrzag21, ssrvrzag47, ssrvrzag62, ssrvrzag64, ssrvrzag67, ssrvrzag79 and ssrvr ZAG83 (Sefc et al., 1999). From these VVS2, VVMD5, VVMD7, ssrvrzag47, ssrvrzag62 and ssrvrzag79 were considered by the European project GENRES #081 the most adequate core set for the screening of grapevine collections ( de/vitis). In order to ascertain possible parent offspring relations 17 additional loci were used [VVS1, VVS3, VVS4, VVS29 (Thomas and Scott, 1993), VVMD8 (Bowers et al., 1996), VVMD14, VVMD36 (Bowers et al., 1999b), ssrvrzag7, ssrvrzag12, ssrvrzag15, ssrvrzag25, ssrvrzag29, ssrvrzag30, ssrvrzag 112 (Sefc et al., 1999), ssrvvuch11, ssrvvuch12, ssrvvuch29 (Lefort et al., 2002)]. Polymerase chain reactions (PCR) were carried out in a volume of 20 l containing 50 ng DNA, 1.5 mm MgCl 2, 200 M of each dntp, 10 pmol of each primer and 0.5 U Taq DNA polymerase in reaction buffer. Reactions were performed in a UNO II Biometra thermocycler. All microsatellites, except for ssrvvuch11, ssrvvuch12 and ssrvvuch29, were amplified with the temperature regime described by Sefc et al. (1997). The remaining three loci were amplified using the conditions described by Lefort et al. (2002). Electrophoresis was carried out using an automated sequencer (ABI Prism 310 Genetic Analyser, Table 1 Grapevine cultivars genotyped in this study Alicante Henri Bouschet Arinto da Terceira (Azores) Assario (Dão) Beba Benfica Boal (Algarve) Boal da Graciosa (Azores) Boal das Abelhas (Azores) Cayetana Cercial (Bairrada) Cercial (Douro) Cercial (Pinhel) Dona Maria Douradinha do Pico (Azores) Fercal Gouveio (Douro) Gouveio Estimado (Douro) Gouveio Real (Douro) Gouveio Roxo (Douro) Itália Jampal Lusitano Malvasia Cândida (Madeira) Malvasia di Candia Aromática Malvasia di Lipari (Italy) Malvasia de Stiges (Spain) Malvasia di Candia Malvasia Rei Merlot Mulata Petit Bouschet Pinheira Branca Primavera Sercial (Madeira) S. Mamede Teinturier Terrantêz do Pico (Azores) Tintinha Tinto de Pegões Touriga Brasileira Touriga Francesa Tourigo do Douro Tourigo Francês Valbom Verdelho (Dão) Verdelho Tinto (Vinhos Verdes)

3 36 M.S. Lopes et al. / Journal of Biotechnology 127 (2006) PE Applied Biosystems) and fragment lengths were determined with the help of internal size standards (Genescan 350 TAMRA Size Standard, PE Applied Biosystems). Samples in which only a single allele per locus was detected were considered homozygous genotypes instead of heterozygous with a null allele for the purpose of computing genetic diversity parameters. Gene diversity (H E Nei, 1973), observed heterozygosity (H O ), probability of identity (PI Paetkau et al., 1995) and estimation of null allele frequency from the heterozygote deficiency (r Brookfield, 1996) were calculated using IDENTITY 4.0 (Wagner and Sefc, 1999). This program was also used to detect identical genotypes and possible parent offspring groups. Deviations of observed heterozygosity values from Hardy-Weinberg expectations were analysed using GENEPOP (Raymond and Rousset, 1995). Genetic distances between cultivars were calculated in MICROSAT (Minch, 1997) as 1-proportion of shared alleles and a phenogram was drawn using the UPGMA algorithm in PHILIP (Felsenstein, 1989) and the program TREEVIEW (Page, 1996). 3. Results and discussion Among the 46 grapevine accessions genotyped at the 11 microsatellite markers, 37 different allelic profiles were displayed. A total of 94 alleles were detected, ranging from 5 to 12 (Table 2), with a mean of 8.55 alleles per locus. At 9 of the 11 loci, the observed heterozygosity was higher than the expected values. In contrast, it was lower than the expected values at loci ssrvrzag62 and ssrvrzag83. In consequence the probability of occurrence of null alleles is positive at these loci. Caution should be exercised when scoring these loci, since heterozygosity is underestimated and segregation distorted. These alleles may be overcome by re-designing primers at different locations when possible (Rallo et al., 2000). Number of observed alleles, expected heterozygosity and PI values indicate VVMD5 as the most informative marker and VVMD6 as the least informative one. Probabilities of identity varied between loci in relation to the evenness of allele frequency distributions (Table 2). Due to the high number of loci, the combined probability for identical genotypes across all loci is low ( ). Tests for Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium revealed significant excess of heterozygotes at locus ssrvrzag64 (P = 0.038) and significant deficit of heterozygotes at locus ssrvrzag67 (P = ). However, significant deviations from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium were rare. The heterozygote excess may be a result of natural selection and also of a careful human selection against homozygosity in grape plants during the course of domestication and cultivation of grapevines (Sefc et al., 2000). Groups of cultivars with similar names were investigated in order to assess their origin. The new data was combined with data previously published by Lopes et al. (1999) for analyses of cultivar relationships. Table 2 Genetic parameters obtained with 11 SSR markers for 37 distinct cultivars Locus Sample size Number of alleles Probability of identity (PI) Expected heterozygosity (H E ) Observed heterozygosity (H O ) Probability of null alleles (r) VVS VVMD VVMD VVMD ssrvrzag ssrvrzag ssrvrzag ssrvrzag ssrvrzag ssrvrzag ssrvrzag The table shows number and size range of detected alleles, probability of identity, expected and observed heterozygosity and probability of occurrence of null alleles. PI for all loci:

4 M.S. Lopes et al. / Journal of Biotechnology 127 (2006) Three cultivars named Boal : Boal grown in Algarve (Southern Portugal) and two Boal cultivars grown in Azores Boal da Graciosa and Boal das Abelhas showed two different allelic profiles. Surprisingly the two accessions grown in the same geographic region (Azores) are genetically distinct and Boal da Graciosa shares its genotype with Boal grown in Algarve (Table 3). Furthermore, Assario from the Dão region revealed to be a synonym of Boal grown in Algarve and Boal da Graciosa. According to the Lista Nacional de Sinónimos das Castas (available from the Instituto da Vinha e do Vinho at and the Catálogo das Castas (Eiras Dias et al., 1988) Assario, Boal grown in Madeira Island, Boal Cachudo and Malvasia Fina are defined as synonyms, which could be confirmed by our microsatellite data. According to National Legislation (Regulation no. 428/2000) these cultivars are officially denominated as Malvasia Fina. Boal das Abelhas was identical to Boal Ratinho. The genetic distance between these two groups of cultivars corresponds to 50% allele sharing. Cercial / Sercial samples from four different geographic regions (Bairrada, Douro, Pinhel and Madeira) were also analysed in this study and each accession revealed a distinct allelic profile (Table 3). Cercial from Pinhel shares its allelic profile with Jampal and Pinheira Branca, but according to Regulation no. 428/2000 they are not considered as synonyms. Additionally Sercial grown in Madeira showed the same genotype as Esgana Cão. Four Gouveio accessions from the Douro region, but with different denominations: Gouveio, Gouveio Estimado, Gouveio Real and Gouveio Roxo revealed three distinct allelic profiles. Gouveio and Gouveio Roxo are the same genotype, while all others are distinct. Gouveio Estimado shares 59% of its alleles with Gouveio Real while Gouveio differs from all other Gouveio accessions in up to 52% of the obtained alleles. Gouveio and Gouveio Roxo showed the same allelic profile as Verdelho grown in the Dão region. Further analyses with other Verdelho samples: Verdelho Tinto grown in the region of Vinhos Verdes and Verdelho grown in the Portuguese Archipelagos Madeira and Azores all revealed to be distinct grapevine cultivars (Table 3), with genetic similarities ranging from 43% to 48%. Six Malvasia samples [ Malvasia Cândida (Madeira), Malvasia di Candia Aromática, Malvasia di Lipari (Italy), Malvasia de Stiges (Spain), Malvasia di Candia and Malvasia Rei ] grouped into four different genotypes (Table 3). Malvasia Cândida, Malvasia di Lipari and Malvasia de Stiges showed to be synonyms, while all other Malvasia denominations displayed unique allelic profiles. Genetic distances between Malvasia samples vary between 46% ( Malvasia Rei Malvasia Fina ) and 77% ( Malvasia de Candia Aromática Malvasia Cândida ). Borrego et al. (2002) and Martín et al. (2003) have also identified genotypic differences in several different Malvasia denominations. Four Touriga accessions denominated Touriga Brasileira, Tourigo do Douro, Touriga Francesa and Tourigo Francês were analysed. All four revealed unique allelic profiles, except for Touriga Francesa and Tourigo Francês (Table 3). Gender distinction had been previously considered as indicator for yield. Touriga (female) would be synonym of higher yield, while Tourigo (male), would be a lower productive clone or type. Our data indicate that gender distinction for the Touriga Francesa / Tourigo Francês is meaningless and only one denomination should be considered. Genetic differences range from 36% ( Touriga Brasileira Touriga do Douro ) to 68% ( Touriga do Douro Touriga Francesa ). Comparison between the data obtained in this study with data from Touriga Nacional (Lopes et al., 1999) ascertained this accession to be distinct from all other Touriga samples. Surprisingly this cultivar has a higher genetic distance with Touriga do Douro (55%) than with Touriga Brasileira (36%) and Touriga Francesa (41%). Touriga Nacional is described as the most important Portuguese red grape cultivar and was originally grown in the Douro and Dão regions (Silva et al., 2005). Based on data from 11 loci Touriga Nacional shares one allele per locus with Touriga Brasileira and with Touriga Francesa indicating possible parent/offspring relationships. However, more loci have to be characterised in order to answer this question. The identified genotypes were searched for possible parent offspring groups. For that reason 17 additional loci were analysed. No offsprings as a result of self pollination were detected. Data obtained from 28 markers indicate Cayetana as an offspring from a cross between Antão Vaz and

5 Table 3 Resolution of homonymy and/or synonymy of groups of cultivars VVS2 VVMD5 VVMD6 VVMD7 ssrvrzag21 ssrvrzag47 ssrvrzag62 ssrvrzag64 ssrvrzag67 ssrvrzag79 ssrvrzag83 Assario, Boal and Boal 139: : : : : : : : : : :194 da Graciosa Boal Ratinho and Boal das Abelhas 133: : : : : : : : : : :190 Cercial (Bairrada) 141: : : : : : : : : : :200 Cercial (Douro) 139: : : : : : : : : : :194 Jampal, Cercial 133: : : : : : : : : : :190 (Pinhel) and Pinheira Branca Sercial and Esgana Cão 129: : : : : : : : : : :200 Gouveio Estimado 133: : : : : : : : : : :190 Gouveio Real 139: : : : : : : : : : :194 Gouveio Roxo, 149: : : : : : : : : : :190 Gouveio and Verdelho Verdelho Tinto 129: : : : : : : : : : :200 Verdelho Pico, Verdelho Roxo and Verdelho 129: : : : : : : : : : :194 Malvasia Cândida, 139: : : : : : : : : : :194 Malvasia di Lipari and Malvasia de Stiges Malvasia di Candia 131: : : : : : : : : : :194 Aromática Malvasia di Candia 129: : : : : : : : : : :194 Malvasia Rei 129: : : : : : : : : : :194 Malvasia Fina 139: : : : : : : : : : : M.S. Lopes et al. / Journal of Biotechnology 127 (2006) Touriga Brasileira 139: : : : : : : : : : :190 Touriga Francesa and 139: : : : : : : : : : :188 Tourigo Francês Tourigo do Douro 129: : : : : : : : : : :190 Touriga Nacional 139: : : : : : : : : : :188 Numbers represent allele sizes in base-pairs.

6 M.S. Lopes et al. / Journal of Biotechnology 127 (2006) Rabo de Ovelha (Table 4). Antão Vaz is an old cultivar and until the last decade has been grown only in the south of Alentejo, around Vidigueira. Only recently, due to the improvement of wine producing technology, has its importance increased. Rabo de Ovelha is a high-yielding white grapevine grown all over Portugal. A study where four sub-populations (Alentejo, Oeste, Douro and Dão regions) of this cultivar were compared for yield genetic variability, alcohol, ph and acidity content, indicated Alentejo as the region of origin for this cultivar (Gonçalves, 1996). Cayetana is a Spanish high yield white grape cultivar and is mainly used in the Estremadura region (99% of the production is found in Badajoz), near the Portuguese border. The identification of this progeny might be an indication of the region of origin of Rabo de Ovelha, Alentejo, as all three cultivars are grown near the same region. The proposed decendance of Cayetana is particularly corroborated by the sharing of two rare alleles: 230 bp (VVMD5) and 246 bp (VVMD7). Since Cayetana displayed only one of the parental alleles at loci VVMD8, ssrvrzag12 and ssrvvuch29 it was assumed that a null allele has been transmitted by one of the possible parents. The estimated frequency of null alleles for these loci is positive 0.17, 0.25 and 0.12, respectively. Null alleles have frequently been observed in several grapevine cultivars [Thomas et al., 1994 (VVS5, VVS19), Sefc et al., 1997 (ssrvrzag12), Lopes et al., 1999 (VVMD6, ssrvrzag12), Vouillamoz et al., 2004 (VVMD36)]. Additionally no amplification was obtained for Antão Vaz at VVMD8, after several attempts, indicating that this cultivar may be homozygous for a null allele. Castelão Francês is one of the most widely cultivated red varieties in Portugal. It produces high yields and is adapted to various climates. In the late 1940s Leão Ferreira de Almeida, a grapevine breeder, made several crosses between Castelão Francês and Tintinha in order to satisfy wine producers needs (yield, colour and alcohol content). Several putative descendents were obtained: Benfica, Lusitano, Valbom (Ghira et al., 1982) and Tinto de Pegões (Eiras Dias et al., 1988). However, the origin of the grapevine variety Lusitano revealed to be the result of a cross between Castelão Francês with Alicante Henri Bouschet (Table 4) instead of Tintinha. Alicante Henri Bouschet is a cultivar usually used to confer colour to red wines. The other potential offsprings of the Castelão Francês Tintinha cross were ruled out as descendents of either Castelão Francês Alicante Henri Bouschet and Castelão Francês Tintinha. However Valbom shares at least one allele per locus with Alicante Henri Bouschet and Tinto de Pegões shares one allele per locus with Castelão Francês indicating possible parent/offspring relationships. Based on data from 11 loci Benfica shares one allele per locus with Petit Bouschet. However further studies with cultivars grown in the same region, namely Grand Noir de la Calmette should be carried out in order to correctly identify these crosses. Another putative cross was identified. Alleles at 27 out of 28 microsatellite loci are consistent with Cercial (Bairrada) being the progeny of Malvasia Fina and Sercial (Madeira). The exception is a 4 or 8 bp discrepancy at locus VVMD14 (Table 4). This may be simply explained by a somatic mutation in one of the inherited alleles. Additionally Cercial (Bairrada) is phenotypically identical to Sercial (Madeira) and wines produced from these grapevines show similar acidity content. Other parentage studies also revealed the occurrence of base-pair discrepancy between parents and progeny (Bowers et al., 1999a; Piljac et al., 2002). However in order to ascertain the origin of Cercial (Bairrada) the number of unlinked microsatellite markers should be increased. Groups of plants that share at least one allele per locus have also been identified for the cultivars Castelão Francês / Alfrocheiro, Gouveio Estimado (Douro)/ Cayetana, Gouveio Estimado (Douro)/ Gouveio Roxo (Douro), Gouveio Estimado (Douro)/ Síria and Síria / Trincadeira Preta indicating them as compatible parent/progeny. In order to illustrate genetic similarities among the analysed cultivars a phenogram, which clusters cultivars calculated as 1-proportion of shared alleles was constructed with all 94 denominations corresponding to 70 genotypes (Fig. 1). The average similarity of all cultivars is 38% shared alleles, approximately the same observed in the characterisation of 49 Portuguese cultivars (Lopes et al., 1999) and close to the average similarity observed for mid-european cultivars (Sefc et al., 1998b). The phenogram shows one accession, Fercal, as standing outside of the rest of the cultivars. Fercal is

7 Table 4 Genotypes at 28 loci confirm Cayetana as an offspring of Antão Vaz and Rabo de Ovelha, Lusitano as a descendant of Castelão Francês and Alicante Henri Bouschet and Cercial grown in Bairrada as a progeny of Esgana Cão and Malvasia Fina Locus Cultivar Antão Vaz Cayetana Rabo de Ovelha Castelão Francês, Periquita, João Santarém and Trincadeira Lusitano Alicante Henri Bouschet Sercial and Esgana Cão Cercial (Bairrada) VVS1 178: : : : : : : : :188 VVS2 141: : : : : : : : :141 VVS3 210: : : : :- a 216:- a 210: : :210 VVS4 166: : : : : : : : :166 VVS29 168: : : : : : : : :168 VVMD5 230: : : : : : : : :236 VVMD6 197: : : : : : : : :204 VVMD7 246: : : : : : : : :254 VVMD8 - b :- b 134:- a 134: : :- a - b :- b 136: : :140 VVMD14 228: : : : : : : : :226 VVMD36 249: : : : : : : : :283 ssrvrzag7 106: : : : : : : : :156 ssrvrzag12 157: :- a 139:- a 157: : : : : :157 ssrvrzag15 166: : : : : : : : :166 ssrvrzag21 202: : : : : : : : :202 ssrvrzag25 224: : : :- a 236:- a 224: : : :244 ssrvrzag29 109: : : : : : : : :109 ssrvrzag30 148: : : : : : : : :148 ssrvrzag47 158: : : : : : : : :172 ssrvrzag62 202: : : : : : : : :186 ssrvrzag64 132: : : : : : : : :138 ssrvrzag67 127: : : : : : : : :147 ssrvrzag79 244: : : : : : : : :248 ssrvrzag83 190: : : : : : : : :194 ssrvrzag : : : : : : : : :236 ssrvvuch11 243: : : : : : : : :241 ssrvvuch12 128: : : : : : : : :166 ssrvvuch29 209: :- a 207:- a 209: : : : : :285 Allele sizes are given in base-pairs. a The - symbol indicates that the cultivar might be either homozygous or heterozygous with a null allele. b The - symbol indicates that the cultivar might be homozygous for a null allele, as no amplification was achieved. Malvasia Fina, Boal Cachudo, Boal, Boal da Graciosa and Assario 40 M.S. Lopes et al. / Journal of Biotechnology 127 (2006) 34 44

8 M.S. Lopes et al. / Journal of Biotechnology 127 (2006) Fig. 1. Phenogram of 70 grapevine genotypes corresponding to 94 different denominations. Groups of synonyms are first designated by the official nomenclature.

9 42 M.S. Lopes et al. / Journal of Biotechnology 127 (2006) a cross between Vitis berlandieri and Colombard and is mainly used as a rootstock. Therefore it is not surprising that the average similarity with all other cultivars is only 16%. Another distinct cluster includes mainly grapevines used for table grape production: Moscatel de Setúbal, Dona Maria, Malvasia Candida Aromática and Itália, which show a genetic distance of 76%, 68%, 74% and 75% alleles with all other accessions, respectively. It is interesting to observe that from the investigated groups of cultivars with similar names only Boal accessions and Touriga accessions cluster together. Cayetana clusters together with only one of its parents, Rabo de Ovelha. Antão Vaz shows an average similarity of only 28% with all other cultivars and therefore is found alone in one cluster. Cayetana shares 64% of the alleles with Antão Vaz and 68% with Rabo de Ovelha. The two parents share 36% of the alleles. Lusitano and its parents Alicante Henri Bouschet and Castelão Francês are found in one cluster, with 50% of the alleles shared between the two parents and similarities of 64% between Lusitano Castelão Francês and 68% between Lusitano Alicante Henri Bouschet. Cercial grown in Bairrada shares 68% with Malvasia Fina and therefore cluster together. The other putative parent Sercial shares 54% of the alleles with Cercial grown in Bairrada. The genetic similarity between Malvasia Fina and Sercial corresponds to 32% of shared alleles. From the groups of plants that share at least one allele per locus all but Gouveio Roxo from Douro clusters together. The average similarity between Gouveio Roxo grown in the Douro region and all other cultivars is 39%. In pairwise comparisons, the greatest distances detected (100%) were between Fercal Tinto Cão, Fercal Ramisco and Merlot Moscatel de Setúbal. In contrast, as it can be easily inferred from the phenogram, the cultivars with highest pairwise similarities are between Verdelho and a cultivar grown in Terceira erroneously called Arinto (96% shared alleles), Tintinha Tinto de Pegões (86%) and Lusitano Benfica (82%). In this study 64 out of the 94 characterized denominations are recognized as allowed for the production of Portuguese Wines. Seventy two percent of the varieties revealed to be unique genotypes, while the remaining 32% appear to be synonyms. Our study shows that the correct identification of genotypes is very useful in the management of grapevine collections and of great help in the preparation of legislation. The classification of wines as Protected Denominations of Origin increased the demand for the accurate identification of cultivars an essential requirement for viticulture industry (Thomas et al., 1994). Therefore all the remaining Portuguese grapevine cultivars should be further characterised. The obtained data allowed the identification of three pedigrees and other putative parent/progeny relationships, enabling the identification of the solar of origin of some cultivars. However further efforts should be made in order to identify the parents of other cultivars, namely the parents of the remaining crosses made by Leão Ferreira de Almeida, as some confusion exists. This may be due to mislabelling of the used cultivars or due to pollen mixtures, which can easily occur if accurate standard procedures are not followed. The confirmation of Malvasia Fina as parent of Boal Ratinho (Lopes et al., 1999) and Cercial (Bairrada) exposed the ancestral position of this cultivar and its genetic contribution in the Portuguese grapevine germplasm. Also Rabo de Ovelha was identified as an Old Portuguese cultivar that contributed to the Spanish genetic germplasm. As the identification of grapevine varieties by the use of classical ampelographic methods (morphological and morphometric characters) are sometimes afflicted by misinterpretations due to environmental influence (Dettweiller, 1993), the integration of our data with ampelographic data would be of great importance to unambiguously identify the existing Portuguese cultivars and could also be used for legal protection of cultivars. This work also shows that the characterisation of germplasm collections by means of microsatellites is very useful in their management and the identification of parent/progeny relationships could help understanding the inheritance of economically important traits allowing the identification of the genes responsible for the expression of those traits. Acknowledgement This project was supported by the Assessoria para a Ciência e Tecnologia da Presidência do Governo

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