ABSTRACT
The genomic revolution has been the starting point for renewing attention on the extent of naturally occurring variation in many plant species and in particular in the model species Arabidopsis thaliana (Alonso-Blanco and Koornneef 2000). Because grape is experiencing similar genomic breakthroughs, the use of genetic diversity in this species may greatly improve our understanding of economically important quantitative traits. Although naturally induced variants have been analyzed (Boss and Thomas 2002; Chatelet et al. 2007; Fernandez et al. 2010) and used for genetic and physiological studies (Kobayashi et al. 2004; Fernandez et al. 2006, 2010, see Chapter 3), the main focus in this chapter will be on natural diversity. Despite the number of genera and species in the Vitaceae family (see Chapter 1), most of the useful resources for viticulture belong to the genus Vitis. We will, therefore, emphasize on this genus and most specifi cally on V. vinifera L. in this chapter.
