Morphological and Molecular (ISSR and SCoT) characterization of some grape cultivars in the North Sinai

The present study was focusing on the morphological characterization of six grape cultivars 
collected from different locations in North Sinai. Also, to assess the genetic diversity using 
molecular markers (ISSR and SCoT) among these cultivars and four commercial genotypes. Data 
analysis of the cluster characters showed that highly significant differences were observed among 
the six cultivars for the average cluster weight and the number of berries/cluster. While, cluster 
length, and the average of cluster compactness revealed significant differences. Moreover, the 
results of berry physical characteristics showed a significant variation among the six cultivars. 
Nine ISSR and ten SCoT primers were used to determine the level of polymorphism, molecular 
identification of unique markers, and the estimation of genetic distances for the ten grapevine 
cultivars (6 cultivated in North Sinai and four commercial cultivars). The ISSR primers amplified 
93 amplicons of which 51 were polymorphic. While, SCoT primers showed 136 amplicons, the total 
number of polymorphic amplicons was 52. The two molecular markers revealed positive unique 
markers only. The number of positive unique markers was 9 and was useful in identifying 5 
genotypes out of the 10 cultivars. The similarity indices ranged from 92% to 76% and 94% to 84% 
for ISSR and SCoT, respectively. The cluster analysis exhibited a tendency the cultivars collected 
from North Sinai are groups in the same subcluster except Banaty White from the two molecular 
markers. It is concluded that we need the additional grapevine germplasm were collected from 
other locations and more morphological characters study to ensure the genetic diversity in 
grapevine germplasm.