NGS comparison of Downy and Powdery mildew resistance genomic regions between 'Regent' and 'Red Globe'

Powdery and downy mildew have a large negative impact on grape production worldwide. Quantitative trait loci (QTL) mapping projects have identified several loci for the genetic factors responsible for resistance to these pathogens. Several of these studies have focused on the cultivar Regent, which carries the resistance loci to downy mildew on chromosome 18 (Rpv3), as well powdery mildew on chromosome 15 (Ren3, Ren9). Several other minor resistance loci have also been identified on other chromosomes. Here we report on the re-sequencing of the Regent and Red Globe (susceptible) genomes using next generation sequencing. While the genome of Regent has more SNP variants than Red Globe, the distribution of these variants across the two genomes is not the same, nor is it uniform. The variation per gene shows that some genes have higher SNP density than others and that the number of SNPs for a given gene is not always the same for the two cultivars. In this study, we investigate the effectiveness of studying the variation of non-synonymous to synonymous SNP ratios between resistant and susceptible cultivars in the target QTL regions as a strategy to narrow down the number of likely candidate genes for Rpv3, Ren3 and Ren9.