Species relationships within the genus Vitis based on molecular and morphological data

Abstract

The grape genus Vitis L. includes the domesticated V. vinifera, which is one of the most important fruit crop, and also close relatives recognized as valuable germplasm resources for improving cultivars. To resolve some standing problems in the species relationships within the Vitis genus we analyzed diversity in a set of 90 accessions comprising most of Vitis species and some putative hybrids. We discovered single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in SANGER sequences of twelve loci and genotyped accessions at a larger number of SNPs using a previously developed SNP array. Our phylogenic analyses consistently identified: three clades in North America, one in East Asia, and one in Europe corresponding to V. vinifera. Using heterozygosity measurement, haplotype reconstruction and chloroplast markers, we identified the hybrids existing within and between clades. The species relationships were better assessed after discarding these hybrids from analyses. We also studied the relationships between phylogeny and morphological traits and found that several traits significantly correlated with the phylogeny. The American clade that includes important species such as V. riparia and V. rupestris showed a major divergence with all other clades based on both DNA polymorphisms and morphological traits.

Seed Morphological Analysis in Species of Vitis and Relatives

“…However, the values observed for V. aestivalis seeds in this study, corresponding to a Stummer index of 0.54, indicate elongated seeds in some species other than V. vinifera, at least under cultivation. Nevertheless, this finding contradicts data from other sources [39,43], where V. aestivalis seeds had a higher Stummer index, and must be interpreted with caution, until the results of further analysis with other populations of V. aestivalis are available.…”

“…Nevertheless, the dendrogram based on the J index was very similar to the dendrogram resulting from the analysis performed using data from the general measurements, as well as curvature and symmetry analysis, indicating the applicability of J index as a general measurement for taxonomic purposes at the infra-generic level. Additionally, our results align with the relationship between Vitis species observed in dendrograms based on molecular analysis, particularly the associations between V. riparia and V. berlandieri, as well as between V. amurensis and V. doaniana [43].…”

“…These relationships were visualized in a dendrogram. Phylogenetic dendrograms of Vitis and related species have been elaborated using various DNA sequence-based methods, generally indicating clear separation between genera such as Cissus, Ampelopsis and Parthenocissus from Vitis species [41][42][43][44]. In our dendrogram, the species of different genera, Ampelopsis aconitifolia, Cissus verticillata, and Parthenocissus quinquefolia, were dispersed among the species of Vitis.…”