Using Two Retrotransposon Based Marker Systems (IRAP and REMAP) for Molecular Characterization of Olive (<i>Olea europaea</i> L.) Cultivars

Abstract

Olive (Olea europaea L.) is one of the most characteristic agricultural trees of the Mediterranean region and has a large number of cultivar diversity. Olive cultivar characterization is very important especially for the fruit productivity and olive oil quality. In the present study, 46 clones belonging to Turkey (eight cultivars, each having five clones) and Italy (two cultivars, each having three clones) were assessed for cultivar characterization via inter-retrotransposon amplified polymorphism (IRAP) and retrotransposon-microsatellite amplified polymorphism (REMAP) marker systems using 10 LTR and 10 ISSR primers. In total, 368 band profiles were obtained, 358 of which are polymorphic (97.28% polymorphism). The cultivars were segregated into three main groups, each group having several branches, where all the clones of each cultivar were belonging to the same main group. The only exception to that was the distribution of the clones of cultivar Yaglik, ‘Yaglik 4’ and ‘Yaglik 5’, into different main groups. IRAP and REMAP analysis showed a high level of genetic variability among the olive cultivars in this study and this marker systems would be useful tool for clonal selection programs.