Cultivar identification in olive based on RAPD markers

ABSTRACT. One hundred and thirteen olive (Olea europaea L.) accessions were characterized using randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers. Forty-five polymorphic RAPD markers were obtained enabling us to distinguish 102 different RAPD profiles. The approximate estimation of the probability of obtaining the same RAPD profile for two different trees was between 6.75 × 10–5 and 4.82 × 10–14. A dendrogram was constructed using Ward’s minimum variance algorithm based on chi-square distances. This led to a more clear-cut classification of profiles than the classical approach of unweighted pair group method with arithmetic average. Twenty-four clusters of RAPD profiles were shown in Ward’s dendrogram. Reliability of the dendrogram structure was checked using variance analysis. RAPD data exhibited an acceptable resolving power for cultivar identification. A combination of three primers was proposed for rapid molecular identification of cultivars in collections and in nurseries. Olive (Olea europaea) is of great socioeconomic importance in the Mediterranean basin. Its cultivation is expanding because of increased demand for olive oil. A great number of olive cultivars (presumed clones) are grown throughout the world. Several hundred supposedly clonal accessions are described in the main countries of the Mediterranean basin. In France abou