Clonal variation and stability assay of chimeric Pinot Meunier (Vitis vinifera L.) and descending sports

This project studied the genetic variation of the periclinal grape chimera Pinot Meunier, its natural occurring mutations (loss of trichomes on leaf surfaces) and the German Pinot noir clone Samtrot. Eleven Pinot Meunier clones of French, Italian and foremost German origin, Pinot Meunier mutations of differing ages and with various dispersions of hairless sectors as bud-, shoot- and complete vine mutations and six Samtrot clones were investigated with amplified fragment length polymorphisms (AFLPs) and microsatellites (SSRs). SSR-analysis proved chimerism of all Pinot Meunier clones tested and confirmed identical genotype for all hairless mutations and Samtrot clones at the analyzed loci. Clonal variation was shown by AFLP-analysis yielding a total of 670 bands out of 18 primer combinations of which 161 were polymorphic. Pinot Meunier, Samtrot and the naturally occurring hairless Pinot Meunier mutations could be significantly differentiated. Most of interclonal varying AFLP fragments (mean 1.5% per sample) originated within the groups of Samtrot or Pinot Meunier mutations, whereas intraclonal identity was highest within the Pinot Meunier clones. According to the analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA), variation among wild type and mutated Pinot Meunier leaf halves is significantly smaller than between phenotypically identical Samtrot and Pinot Meunier mutants. Average gene diversity calculated on variability of loci reduced from Samtrot (0.040 +/- 0.023) towards Pinot Meunier (0.025 +/- 0.013) clones.