Proceedings of the XLVI Italian
Society of Agricultural Genetics - SIGA Annual Congress
Giardini
Naxos, Italy - 18/21 September, 2002
ISBN 88-900622-3-1
Poster
Abstract - 1.09
GENOMIC
VARIABILITY AMONG Olea europaea L. CULTIVARS ASSESSED BY
NON-RADIOACTIVE AFLP ANALYSIS
SENSI E.*, VIGNANI R.*, SCALI M.*, MASI E.**, CRESTI M.*
*) Dipartimento di Scienze Ambientali, University of
Siena, Via Mattioli 4, 53100 Siena, Italy
**) Dipartimento di Ortoflorofrutticoltura, University of
Florence, Viale delle Idee 30, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Florence, Italy
Olea europaea
L., non radioactive automated AFLP test, intra-varietal polymorphism, cultivar
identification
Amplified
fragment length polymorphism analysis (AFLP) was used to evaluate the genetic
biodiversity and variability present in some Italian varieties of cultivated
olive. A group of 12 genotypes belonging to three varieties was screened using
six different AFLP primer combinations. A total of 274 loci (59.8% of which
were polymorphic) were investigated. The number of polymorphic loci detected by
single primer combination for each variety was calculated. AFLP banding
patterns were transformed into binary data of presence - absence and matrices
were processed with NTSYS-pc and Arlequin software programmes. Similarity relationships were
described graphically by a dendrogram which clustered accessions of the same
cultivar. Analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) revealed greater variation
between cultivars than within them, but significant intra-cultivar differentiation
was found. For the varieties analysed, the data revealed significant genetic
diversity in the cultivated olive tree, despite they belong to a limited
geographical area. The DNA fingerprinting technique used was confirmed to be a
reproducible and sensitive tool for the study of population genetics of
long-lived woody plants, such as olive trees. The high genomic polymorphism
observed suggests a more complex genetic population structure than the
conventional variety or cultivar level. The present study confirms the
importance of considering the degree of genetic relatedness and variability
within populations during clone and variety selection programmes.