CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

The presence of phylloxera in Argentinean vineyards is not considered a major threat and most of the grapevines are cultivated on their own roots. However, changes in viticultural practices during the past years, might impact the significance of the damage. The objective of this work was to characterize phylloxera in Argentina at the molecular level and to compare it with reference strains found in California. Twenty-one samples were collected from roots of V. vinifera cultivars grown in different localities of the provinces of Mendoza and San Juan. DNA was extracted using the Chelex method and amplified for 26 microsatellite markers. Results showed the presence of 2 distinct fingerprint profiles. The largest group consisted of 16 samples from South, Central and North Mendoza and San Juan. They grouped closer to the reference sample of biotype A. The smallest one consisted of 5 samples from the North-West of the province of Mendoza and grouped closer to the reference of biotype B. Although at this point DNA fingerprinting cannot inform about the aggressiveness of the phylloxera genotypes found in Mendoza and San Juan, the similarity with aggressive genotypes found in California and the presence of tuberosities in the roots from which samples were collected, suggest that the use of rootstocks should be seriously examined at vineyard planting.