SSR Marker-Based DNA Fingerprinting and Cultivar Identification of Olives (Olea europaea)

Four well-known commercial olive cultivars (Domat, Edremit, Gemlik, and Memecik) and six local cultivars (Ziraat, Isrange, Tuz, Patos, Yag, and Marantelli) from northeastern Turkey were analyzed for genetic diversity and relationships using seven SSR primers (DCA-4, DCA-09, DCA-11, DCA-16, DCA-17, GAPU-89, UDO-14). The number of markers ranged from 3 (DCA-04 and DCA-17) to 6 (DCA-11, DCA-16, GAPU-89), with an average of 4.57 alleles per primer. UPGMA cluster analysis based on a simple matching similarity matrix grouped cultivars into two main clusters. Three pairs of cultivars (Ziraat and Gemlik, Isrange and Tuz, and Patos and Yag) were thought to be different cultivars although they produced identical SSR profiles. The results indicate the efficiency of SSR markers for evaluation of genetic diversity in olives and identification of misnamed individuals of the same genotype.