Usefulness of two SCAR markers for marker-assisted selection of seedless grapevine cultivars

A PCR-specific marker, SCP18, was developed from a RAPD marker linked to a major locus involved in seedlessness, sdI . A preliminary study of the usefulness of SCP18 and SCC8 (a marker linked to sdI previously developed by LAHOGUE et al. 1998) for the marker assisted selection of seedless varieties was realized using various strategies: a posteriori test in seedless x seedless and seeded x seeded progenies and test of their allelic diversity in a set of 81 seedless and seeded varieties. In contrast to SCP18, SSC8 was found to be a useful marker at least in the seedless x seedless progenies and to show a good linkage disequilibrium with seedlessness in our set of varieties.