Grape genetics research reveals what makes the perfect flower

Ithaca, New York - The existence of wine and table grapes is thanks to a rare gene exchange that has only occurred in nature twice in the past 6 million years

When today's growers cultivate new varieties and try to produce more delicious and disease-resistant grapes, it takes two to four years for breeders to understand whether they have the genetic composition of perfect flowers

The females set fruit, but produce sterile pollen

Now, Cornell University scientists are collaborating with the University of California, Davis to identify the DNA markers that determine the sex of grape flowers

"This is the first genomic evidence to show that the sex of grape flowers has multiple independent origins," the corresponding author of the paper and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA-ARS) Grape Genetic Unit at Cornell Agricultural Technology.

"This research is very important for breeding and production because we have designed genetic markers that can tell you the sex characteristics of each vine flower," Londo said.

Today, most cultivated grapes are hermaphrodite, while all members of the wild Vitis have only male or female flowers

In this study, the research team examined the DNA sequences of hundreds of wild and domesticated grape genomes to determine the unique sex determining regions of male, female, and hermaphrodite species

London believes that ancient viticulturalists stumbled upon these high-yielding grapes and collected seeds or cuttings to meet their own needs-freezing the hermaphrodite flower characteristics of the domesticated grapes used today

Many wine grapes can be traced back to the first or second event gene bank

Chardonnay and Riesling are unique in that they both carry genes from these two regions

Recording genetic markers that identify males, females, and perfect flower types will ultimately help accelerate variety development and reduce the cost of breeding programs

"The more grape DNA markers are identified, the more breeders can promote the development of the wine and grape industry," said Bruce Reisch, professor and co-author of the SIPS Department of Horticulture and Plant Breeding and Genetics.

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