Applications of Microsatellite Markers for the Characterization of Olive Genetic Resources of Tunisia

Abstract

Among the countries of the Mediterranean Basin, Tunisia is located at the crossroad for the immigration of several civilizations over the last two millennia, becoming a strategic place for gene flow, and a secondary center of diversity for olive species. Olive is one of the principal crop species in Tunisia and now it strongly characterizes the rural landscape of the country. In recent years, collecting missions on farm and in situ were carried out by various institutes, with special emphasis given to ex situ collections serving as a reference for the identification of olive germplasm. Simple Sequence Repeats (SSRs) represent the easiest and cheapest markers for olive genetic fingerprinting and have been the tool of choice for studying the genetic diversity of this crop in Tunisia, to resolve cases of homonymy and synonymy among the commercialized varieties, to identify rare cultivars, to improve knowledge about the genetic variability of this crop, to identify a hot spot of olive biodiversity in the Tunisian oasis of Degache, and to enrich the national reference collection of olive varieties. The present review describes the state of the art of the genetic characterization of the Tunisian olive germplasm and illustrate the progress obtained through the SSR markers, in individuating interesting genotypes that could be used for facing incoming problems determined by climate changes.