Assessment of genetic diversity of grapevine (Vitis vinifera L.) cultivars grown in Pakistan using ISSR markers

Many American and European cultivars of grapes are grown in several countries. However, their interrelationship is indistinct. Therefore, ampelographic and genetic characterizations were conducted to analyze and identify the similarities and relatedness among seven different grapevine cultivars, namely Red Globe, Autumn Royal, Crimson Seedless, Thompson, Perlette, King Ruby, and Sundar Khani (from Pakistan). Morphological characteristics examined include berry morphology, fruit skin color, flesh color, sweetness, compactness, and weight of grape bunch. Molecular diversity of the cultivars was evaluated using the Inter-Simple Sequence Repeat (ISSR) markers. The results showed that morphological characterization differed among the grapevine cultivars. Six primers examined yielded 84 scored bands ranging from 150 bp to 1200 bp. The polymorphism information content (PIC) values ranged from 0.233 to 0.457, while the amount of polymorphism varied with each primer, from 83% to 100%. Our results showed that the fingerprints of ISSR markers are a proficient method for identification and resolution of genetic diversity among different grape cultivars.