Grapevine intra-varietal selection and identification

Grapevine culture represents one of the most important fruit productions worldwide. Thousands of varieties of Vitis vinifera exist, but only thirteen varieties account for more than one third of the world's vineyard area. The creation of a grape variety results from a sexual event between two parents, but its spread is through vegetative multiplication. The succession of these multiplication events leads to genetic polymorphism, resulting in an interesting intra-varietal diversity for producers, which has been the subject of significant selection work by national and regional organizations. Many studies have helped to clarify the nature of genetic polymorphisms responsible for intra-varietal polymorphism and have significantly advanced genetic knowledge. However, traditional ampelography is not sufficient to distinguish clones from each other, and there is no reliable methodology yet to identify and select clones. The main objective of this project is to use the latest genetic sequencing techniques to identify clones of the Merlot grape variety.