COMPARISON OF AMPELOGRAPHIC AND MOLECULAR DIVERSITY OF AZERBAIJAN CULTIVATED AND WILD GRAPE VARIETIES

Abstract

To estimate genetic relationships among cultivated (Vitis vinifera ssp. sativa) and wild grapevine accessions (Vitis vinifera ssp. sylvestris) originating from regions near the Caspian Sea of
Azerbaijan, comparison of ampelographic and ISSR markers diversity was performed. The genetic
diversity of studied grapevine accessions at the phenotype and genotype levels is not geographically
structured. Within the analyzed grapevine populations the highest genetic diversity is observed for
the cultivated samples from the Absheron peninsula. Although the wild population separated from
cultivated by ampelographic traits, the genetic similarity at the molecular level between wild and
cultivated gene pools is observed. These findings suggest that the Azerbaijan cultivated grapevine
population comes directly from wild population of these areas and this geographic region seems to
be one of the possible primary centers of origin of V.vinifera.
Keywords: Vitis spp., ampelography, genetic distance, genetic similarity, ISSR markers