SCAN: Biological diversity of Vitis vinifera L. in Portugal

SCAN

Title:  Biological diversity of Vitis vinifera L. in Portugal: the genetic contribution of ssp sylvestris (Gmelin) Hegi to the origin of the Portuguese grapevine cultivars (ssp vinifera)

Speaker: Jorge Cunha, Plant Cell Biochemistry Lab

Abstract

The Vitis vinifera Portuguese genetic resources are considered to be very significative, not only due to the large number of autochtonous cultivars, but also because a relevant number of populations of the wild subspecies (V. vinifera ssp sylvestris) have recently been found. Wild vines are considered to be the dioecious ancestor of the cultivated grapevines. Local domestication of wild vines and genetic contributions from eastern cultivars seems to be in the origin of a great number of the Portuguese autochthonous cultivars.

Fifty three wild plants were collected in four populations found in the regions of Montemor-o-Novo, Castelo Branco, Alcácer do Sal and Portel. These populations were found in riparian woods of four different hydrological basins. Grapevine cultivars were collected at the Portuguese National Ampelographic Collection (PRT 051 curator J.E Eiras-Dias) in Dois Portos (Torres Vedras) held by the INRB (Instituto Nacional de Recursos Biológicos) from the Ministry of Agriculture.

To study the diversity of wild vines and autochthonous grapevine OIV and GENRES 081 descriptors were applied for the morphological characterization and six SSRs and four cpSSRs were used to genotype all the accessions. Distinct statistic approaches were used to analyse the data including AMOVA, Multivariate Discriminant Analyses, Principal Coordinate Analysis and agglomerative algoritms.

Phenotype and genotype diversity was detected among and within wild populations. Important insights about the wild and grapevine cultivars origin were also detected, reinforcing the idea that Western Europe was a domestication centre for grapevine with contributions from the Eastern gene pool. The observed genetic relations are a starting point to understand why Portugal has such a high number of autochthonous cultivars from Portugal.
 

Short CV:
From January 2005 - PhD student at Plant Cell Biotechnology lab (IBET/ITQB-UNL) under the supervision of Prof. Pedro Fevereiro and Doutor José Eduardo Eiras-Dias
2003- MSc in Fitotécnia de Plantas by Universidade de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro,Vila Real.
2001-2004 - Research fellowship at Estação Vitivinicola Nacional (MADRP/EVN) working in Ampelographic Characterization of Vitis species with the scope of several projects.
2000- Undergraduate degree in Agronomy sciences by Escola Superior Agrária de Castelo Branco, Instituto Politécnico de Castelo Branco.
1998- Technician Engineering in Agronomy Sciences by Escola Superior Agrária de Castelo Branco, Instituto Politécnico de Castelo Branco.