Genetic diversity among olive varieties of Southern Italy and the traceability of olive oil using SSR markers

SummaryTo evaluate germplasm variability and to identify DNA profiles useful for tracing the genetic identity of olive oil, we used six Simple Sequence Repeats (SSRs) in 47 cultivated olive varieties from Central and Southern Italy. A total of 80 polymorphic SSR markers were scored and both the observed heterozygosity and the polymorphic index content were, on average, high. Genetic similarities were investigated by agglomerative hierarchical clustering and principal component analysis. The results implied that most of the olive accessions from the Campania region were genetically different from those of other Italian regions. This finding was further supported by partitioning the genetic variability using analysis of molecular variance. Furthermore, we analysed the DNA isolated from the fruit and mono-varietal oils of three cultivars. Comparative analysis of the SSR profiles revealed that these were conserved in the agro-food chain, although our data also suggested that some issues, such as the sensitivi...