Rediscovery of historical Vitis vinifera varieties from the South Anatolia region by using amplified fragment length polymorphism and simple sequence repeat DNA fingerprinting methods.

Anatolia played an important role in the diversification and spread of economically important Vitis vinifera varieties. Although several biodiversity studies have been conducted with local cultivars in different regions of Anatolia, our aim is to gain a better knowledge on the biodiversity of endangered historical V. vinifera varieties in the northern Adana region of southern Anatolia, particularly those potentially displaying viticulture characteristics. We also demonstrate the genetic relatedness in a selected subset of widely cultivated and commercialized V. vinifera collection cultivars, which were obtained from the National Grapevine Germplasm located at the Institute of Viticulture, Turkey. In the present study, microsatellites were used in narrowing the sample size from 72 accessions down to a collection of 27 varieties. Amplified fragment length polymorphisms were then employed to determine genetic relatedness among this collection and local V. vinifera cultivars. The unweighted pair group method with arithmetic mean cluster and principal component analyses revealed that Saimbeyli local cultivars form a distinct group, which is distantly related to a selected subset of V. vinifera collection varieties from all over Turkey. To our knowledge, this is the first study conducted with these cultivars. Further preservation and use of these potential viticultural varieties will be helpful to avoid genetic erosion and to promote continued agriculture in the region.