Pavel Pavloušek

Screening of rootstock hybrids with Vitis cinerea Arnold for phylloxera resistance

The resistance to phylloxera is one of the most important properties of grapevine rootstock. The breeding and selection of rootstock varieties represents a biological method of fight against phylloxera. In this study altogether 59 rootstock hybrids originating from nine different populations were evaluated. Pedigrees of all populations involved Vitis cinerea Arnold introduced through the hybrid Bruci/(Vitis berlandieri Planch. × Vitis rupestris Scheele) × Vitis cinerea Arnold/ and the variety Börner. Pot experiments were performed in a glasshouse while those with excised root pieces in root bioassay took place in a laboratory. This combination showed to be a very good selection tool for rootstock breeding. In seven rootstock hybrids, it was found that the resistance to phylloxera gallicoles and radicicoles was very high. The highest number of resistant hybrids was found in Binova × Börner. The variety Börner showed to be the best gene source of phylloxera resistance and even in case of a simple crossing produced sufficient number of resistant progeny.

Phenolic profile in Czech white wines from different terroirs

Grapevine cv. Riesling is a traditional variety of cool climate viticulture regions to which the Czech Republic belongs too. In total 35 wine samples from 9 different terroirs of wine-growing regions in the Czech Republic were evaluated for the content of 20 phenolic compounds comprising hydroxybenzoic acids, hydroxycinnamates, stilbenes, and flavan-3-ols. Phenolic compounds were evaluated by an HPLC method. Methods of multivariate statistical analysis were used to discriminate wine samples on the basis of their geographical origin. Canonical variate analysis proved that it is possible to differentiate wines according to their geographical origin by following authenticity markers: gallic acid, caffeic acid, caftartic acid, p-coutaric acid, ferulic acid ethylester, p-coumaric acid ethylester, (+)-catechin, and (−)-epicatechin. On the basis of statistical analyses, 100% wine samples were correctly classified. The results indicate that, for the case of white wines, mainly hydroxycinnamates and flavan-3-ols can be used for differentiation of their geographical origin.

Design and validation of an STR hexaplex assay for DNA profiling of grapevine cultivars

Although the analysis of length polymorphism at STR loci has become a method of choice for grape cultivar identification, the standardization of methods for this purpose lags behind that of methods for DNA profiling in human and animal forensic genetics. The aim of this study was thus to design and validate a grapevine STR protocol with a practically useful level of multiplexing. Using free bioinformatics tools, published primer sequences, and nucleotide databases, we constructed and optimized a primer set for the simultaneous analysis of six STR loci (VVIi51, scu08vv, scu05vv, VVMD17, VrZAG47, and VrZAG83) by multiplex PCR and CE with laser‐induced fluorescence, and tested it on 90 grape cultivars. The new protocol requires subnanogram quantities of the DNA template and enables automated, high‐throughput genetic analysis with reasonable discriminatory power. As such, it represents a step toward further standardization of grape DNA profiling.