P-62 Conservation, characterisation <strong>and</strong> management of grapevine genetic resources: the European GrapeGen06 project P. This* 1 , R. Bacilieri 1 , S. Gr<strong>and</strong>o 2 , E. Maul 3 , G. Munoz 4 , J. Eiras-Dias 5 , A. Schneider 6 , D. Legr<strong>and</strong> 7 , M. Boselli 8 1 UMR DIAPC INRA-Montpellier Supagro, Montpellier, France ; 2 Istituto Agrario di San Michele all’Adige (IASMA) Fondazione Edmund Mach Research Centre, Trento, Italy; 3 Julius Kühn-Institut - Federal Ressearch Centre for Cultivated Plants (JKI), Institute for Grapevine Breeding Geilweilerhof, Siebeldingen, Germany; 4 Instituto Madrileño de Investigación y Desarrollo Rural, Agrario y Alimentario (IMIDRA), Ronda de Atocha, Arganzuela, Spain; 5 Estacao Vitivinicola Nacional, EVN – INIAP, Dois Portos, Portugal; 6 Istituto di Virologia Vegetale, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, CNR-IVV, 10135 Grugliasco Torino, Italy ; 7 UMT GenoVigne, IFV-INRA-Montpellier Supagro, Montpellier ; 8 Dipartimento scienze e Tecnologie e Mercati della Vite e del Vino, Università di Verona, Floriano, Italy *Corresponding author : this@supagro.inra.fr The genomic revolution have been the starting point for the renewal of attention on the extent of natural occurring variation in many plants species. In this regards, the use of genetic diversity in grape may greatly improve our underst<strong>and</strong>ing of quantitative economically important traits. Genetic resources for grape are very numerous, in particular in Europe, but the exact extent of diversity is still difficult to know. In the scope of the European GrapeGen06 project, research institutes <strong>and</strong> grapevine collections from 17 countries of Europe, Caucasus <strong>and</strong> North-Africa are working together for the characterization <strong>and</strong> management of grapevine genetic resources, including wild accessions of Vitis vinifera subsp. sylvestris. The initial work consisted of inventorying <strong>and</strong> describing the varieties in the partners’ collections, using st<strong>and</strong>ardized morphological, agronomic, <strong>and</strong> molecular descriptors, <strong>and</strong> to link the information into a unique European web-database. The project is in particular focusing on old autochthonous varieties. The database website, numbering more than 25000 accessions, is open for consultation, <strong>with</strong> different levels of access that allows in-dept searches but also confidentiality, according to the user needs. At the end of 2010, the fingerprint data will also be online, so that other collections or professionals can check their own varieties against the referenced varieties to verify names <strong>and</strong> true-to-typeness. The final objective of the European project is to promote an optimized conservation scheme of the Vitis germplasm, involving ex-situ, cryo- <strong>and</strong> on-farm conservation, so that the resources are permanently maintained, easily accessible <strong>and</strong> field-tested in a pertinent 141
agricultural context. This network of resources will also provide plant material as a basis for biotechnology, genomic <strong>and</strong> breeding research. 142