0000000000787264
AUTHOR
Patrizia Spinelli
Urgent need for preservation of grapevine (Vitis vinifera L. Subsp. vinifera) germplasm from small circum-Sicilian islands as revealed by SSR markers and traditional use investigations
Since the last decades grapevine germplasm is undergoing a process of rapid genetic erosion. This process is of particular concern in minor circum-Sicilian islands, because of the sharp reduction of the cultivated surfaces and the shift of their economy from agriculture to tourism. Aiming at valorising and preserving the surviving varieties we collected 185 accessions during several surveys since 2007. Six nuclear microsatellite markers were used for germplasm characterization, yielding 75 different genetic profiles. We found out that most genetic profiles (39) were not listed in national and international grapevine databases, confirming that the Sicilian minor islands represent underexplor…