Apricot genetic resource management. New prospects offered by phylo-geographic and association genetic approaches. Application in the mediterranean basin germplasm

International audienceApricot (Prunus armeniaca L.) was introduced from China to the Mediterranean region through at least two majn routes and a large number of cultivars are here developed in the different countries. In order to characterize the actual Mediterranean genetic variability, 251 apricot accessions from France, Spain, Tunisia, and Turkey were investigated with a common set of markers. Twenty five SSR loci, covering the whole Prunus genome were chosen according to their expected polymorphism. Our results confirmed that SSR markers are efticient tools for fingerprinting cultivars and for determining the genetic structure of apricot Mediterranean populations as well. On the base of a Bayesian analysis four main phylogeograpbical groups have been identified: Tunisian, Enropean (Mediterranean & continental), Turkish and a diversification group joining accessions from central Asia to Europe