Gene pool variation and phylogenetic relationships of an indigenous northeast Italian grapevine collection revealed by nuclear and chloroplast SSRs.

A germplasm safeguard programme was set up with 19 grapevine varieties considered as indigenous to northeastern Italy. To better estimate how genetic structure can be used to obtain a conservation perspective of local varieties, genetic variability was examined at 30 nuclear and 3 chloroplast polymorphic microsatellite loci in the native varieties plus 7 European cultivars taken as reference. The genetic profiles of all the cultivars were searched for possible parentage relationships and several suspected cases of the same variety having different names were investigated.

A grapevine (Vitis vinifera L.) genetic map integrating the position of 139 expressed genes.

Grapevine molecular maps based on microsatellites, AFLP and RAPD markers are now available. SSRs are essential to allow cross-talks between maps, thus upgrading any growing grapevine maps. In this work, single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were developed from coding sequences and from unique BAC-end sequences, and nested in a SSR framework map of grapevine.

Extensive chromosomal repatterning and the evolution of sterility barriers in hybrid sunflower species.

New species may arise via hybridization and without a change in ploidy. This process, termed homoploid hybrid speciation, is theoretically difficult because it requires the development of reproductive barriers in sympatry or parapatry. Theory suggests that isolation may arise through rapid karyotypic evolution and/or ecological divergence of hybrid neospecies.

Comparative mapping and rapid karyotypic evolution in the genus helianthus.

Comparative genetic linkage maps provide a powerful tool for the study of karyotypic evolution. We constructed a joint SSR/RAPD genetic linkage map of the Helianthus petiolaris genome and used it, along with an integrated SSR genetic linkage map derived from four independent H. annuus mapping populations, to examine the evolution of genome structure between these two annual sunflower species.