High efficiency and informativeness of a set of SNP molecular markers in Tunisian local grapevines discrimination

The sequencing of 3.726 kb of grape DNA genome among 44 local Tunisian grapevine accessions has allowed the detection of 73 SNPs which gave an average of one SNP every 51 bp. Based on this set of SNP molecular markers, the analyzed samples exhibited important levels of genetic polymorphism which confirms previous reports and highlights the utility of Tunisian grapevine germplasm as a reservoir of genetic polymorphism which can be exploited for breeding and conservation programs of the species. Moreover, these results showed the efficiency of SNP molecular marker in genetic structure analysis. Thus, our results suggest two probable origins for Tunisian cultivars which confirm previous molecular studies and historical data. The set of 73 SNPs allowed the unambiguous discrimination of all the studied accessions. Our analysis showed that a set of 27 SNPs were able to identify all the analyzed cultivars. On the other hand, a set of 22 SNPs is shown sufficient to discriminate all the wild accessions. Those two SNP sets could be taken into consideration in further studies concerning cultivars identification and wild accessions discrimination of the species Vitis vinifera L.