Project Number
IWBT 04-04
Project title
The identification of grape cultivars using genetic marker technology
Project leader
Burger, J T
Institution
University of Stellenbosch. Faculty of AgriSciences. Institute for Wine Biotechnology
Team members
Vivier, M A
Ross-Adams, H E
Project description
This project is part of an international attempt to ‘fingerprint’ the entire grapevine genome. The aim of the project is to purify and sequence plasmid DNA from 48 clones taken from a microsatellite-enriched Vitis genomic DNA library. Unique primers, complementary to regions flanking the micro satellites, have been designed and will be used to generate PCR-based microsatellite markers in the Vitis genome. These markers will be evaluated for their ability to discriminate grapevine cultivars and clones.
The first phase of this project formed part of an international collaboration to develop microsatellite-based markers for the grapevine genome. As one of 20 participating laboratories, we sequenced 48 Vitis microsatellite-enriched genomic DNA clones. Five primer pairs were generated from our sequences. These were evaluated using supplied standardised grapevine genomic DNA samples. Promising preliminary results lead to an expansion of the project (phase 2), during which we are screening a selected population of local Vitis germplasm to evaluate the applicability of these markers for cultivar and clone identification.
Presentation(s)
Primikirios, N I, Lefort, F, Burger, J T and Roubelakis-Angelakis, K A. 2000. Classification of Vitis vinifera (L) in spermatophytes molecular phylogeny based on chloroplastic 16S and 23S rDNA sequences. 6th International Symposium on Grapevine Physiology and Biotechnology, Heraklion, Greece.
Ross-Adams, H E and Burger, J T, 2000. Characterisation of grapevine using micro satellites – an international effort. 17th Congress of the South African Genetics Society, Pretoria.