Carlo Bergamini

Evidences for an Alternative Genealogy of ‘Sangiovese’

Two different hypothesis for the parentage of ‘Sangiovese’, the most important and widespread Italian winegrape, have been proposed by some previous studies. We screened our grapevine collection, mostly comprising south Italian cultivars collected to preserve biodiversity, to asses kinships. Surprisingly we found two previously unreported candidate parents for ‘Sangiovese’. The first putative parent is ‘Ciliegiolo’ a well know variety already addressed as relative of ‘Sangiovese’; the second putative parent is ‘Negrodolce’, an old local variety we recovered and was considered lost during the last century. In order to obtain a stronger statistical support for this new kinship, we tested seventy different microsatellite markers but only 57 were found reliable. The new proposed parentage stood well even with such a in depth molecular analysis whereas only one discrepancy was found in one of the 57 microsatellite marker analyzed. This discrepancy is certainly due to a null-allele and therefore it should not impair our hypothesis but it points out limits of the microsatellites profiling as a pedigree research method considering that this is the third different kinship proposed so far for ‘Sangiovese’. Thus in this article, by means of detailed molecular fingerprinting, we provide a completely new strong evidence for a south Italian origin of ‘Sangiovese’ and we discuss our findings comparing our data with those previously reported by other authors.

Sangiovese and Its Offspring in Southern Italy

This paper demonstrates the importance of different approaches such as ampelography, historical researches, and molecular analysis to reveal direct parent–child relationship. The aim of this paper was to highlight the degree of relationship to five varieties spread in southern Italy, through ampelographic and molecular characterization: Sangiovese, Mantonico di Bianco, Gaglioppo di Cirò, Mantonicone, and Nerello Mascalese. Molecular characterization was carried out through 52 SSR molecular markers, showing that Sangiovese and Mantonico di Bianco are the parents of Gaglioppo di Cirò, Mantonicone, and Nerello Mascalese. Ampelographic description was performed using the method developed by the Organisation Internationale de la Vigne et du Vin. This analysis identifies three distinct groups: the first brings together Sangiovese and the two offspring Nerello Mascalese and Gaglioppo di Cirò, while Mantonico di Bianco and Mantonicone are positioned at a distance from the first and between them. Using molecular characterization, supported by the ampelographic one, we showed that Gaglioppo di Cirò, Mantonicone, and Nerello Mascalese, three varieties recovered in the southern regions of Italy, such as Calabria and Sicily, originated by the cross between a nationally spread grape variety as Sangiovese and a Calabria autochthonous vine as Mantonico di Bianco.

Ampelometric Leaf Trait and SSR Loci Selection for a Multivariate Statistical Approach in Vitis vinifera L. Biodiversity Management

High estimated heritability values were recently revealed for mature leaf traits in grape (Vitis vinifera L.), thus redeeming ampelography in the era of molecular markers. The “Organisation Internationale de la Vigne et du Vin (OIV)” set a list of hundreds of descriptors for grapevine in order to standardize ampelographic and ampelometric scores. Therefore, the selection and reduction of the number of OIV codes can represent a major goal for leaner biodiversity assessment studies. The identification of ampelometric traits associated with grape diversity allows to construct Classification Trees with chi squared automatic interaction detection (CHAID) algorithm, a stepwise model-fitting method that produces a tree diagram in which at each step the sample pool is splitted based on the independent variables statistically different for the dependent variable. A collection of 100 table and wine grapevines (Vitis vinifera L.) was characterized and evaluated by means of six microsatellites and twenty-two ampelometric traits on mature leaves. Nine ampelometric traits were selected by principal component analysis and employed to build the classification trees based on CHAID algorithm. The strategy can represent an effective tool for grape biodiversity management, right allocations, and identification of new grape genotypes, implemented by a further microsatellite investigation only when unsolved cases occur, allowing faster and cheaper results.