ABSTRACT
The olive is a fruit tree species with a century-old history of cultivation in theMediterranean basin. In Apulia (Southern Italy), the olive is of main social, cultural and economicimportance, and represents a hallmark of the rural landscape. However, olive cultivation in thisregion is threatened by the recent spread of the olive quick decline syndrome (OQDS) disease, thusthere is an urgent need to explore biodiversity and search for genetic sources of resistance. Herein,a genetic variation in Apulian olive germplasm was explored, as a first step to identify genotypeswith enhanced bio-agronomic traits, including resistance to OQDS. A preselected set of nuclearmicrosatellite markers allowed the acquisition of genotypic profiles, and to define geneticrelationships between Apulian germplasm and widespread cultivars. The analysis highlighted thebroad genetic variation in Apulian accessions and the presence of different unique genetic profiles.The results of this study lay a foundation for the organization of new breeding programs for olivegenetic improvement.
ABSTRACT
Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) is one of the most important legumes worldwide. We addressed this study to the genetic characterization of a germplasm collection from main chickpea growing countries. Several Italian traditional landraces at risk of genetic erosion were included in the analysis. Twenty-two simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers, widely used to explore genetic variation in plants, were selected and yielded 218 different alleles. Structure analysis and hierarchical clustering indicated that a model with three distinct subpopulations best fits the data. The composition of two subpopulations, named K1 and K2, broadly reflects the commercial classification of chickpea in the two types desi and kabuli, respectively. The third subpopulation (K3) is composed by both desi and kabuli genotypes. Italian accessions group both in K2 and K3. Interestingly, this study highlights genetic distance between desi genotypes cultivated in Asia and Ethiopia, which respectively represent the chickpea primary and the secondary centres of diversity. Moreover, European desi are closer to the Ethiopian gene pool. Overall, this study will be of importance for chickpea conservation genetics and breeding, which is limited by the poor characterization of germplasm collection.
