Identification of olive (Olea europaea L.) cultivars by molecular markers

Abstract

RAPD markers were applied to assess molecular polymorphisms within olive cultivars held in a collection orchard and to develop a system of a minimum number of primers for cultivar identification. Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA of fifteen cultivars ('Istrska belica', 'Štorta', 'Buga', 'Črnica', ‘Unknown 2’, 'Leccino', 'Nocelara del belice', 'Frantoio', 'Cipressino', 'Santa Caterina', 'Pendolino', 'Arbequina', 'Maurino', 'Picholine', 'Unknown 1') was analysed, using twelve different arbitrary primers: OPA-1, OPA-4, OPA-8, OPX-2, OPX-3, OPX-4, OPX-8, OPX-11, OPX-12, OPX-13, OPX-14, OPX-19. The results confirmed identity within trees of thirteen cultivars in the collection orchard while mislabeling was found in two cultivars. The high polymorphism detected by RAPD markers was successfully used for the development of an identification key for rapid olive cultivar determination.