Genetic diversity of Brazilian and introduced olive germplasms based on microsatellite markers.

Olive trees have been grown since the beginning of civilization, and the consumption of olives and olive products is increasing worldwide, due to their health benefits and organoleptic qualities. To meet the growing market for olives, commercial cultivation of this species is expanding from traditional areas to new regions. Although the Brazilian olive industry has just begun to be established, breeding programs are already developing cultivars that are more adapted to local conditions. We used 12 microsatellite markers to evaluate 60 olive accessions, including several cultivars that were developed in Brazil. The analyses identified 72 distinct alleles; the largest number of alleles per locus were at the markers GAPU 101 and GAPU 71B, which contained 10 and 9 alleles, respectively. The largest allelic diversity and polymorphic information contents were also found at the GAPU 101 and GAPU 71B markers, with values of 0.8399/0.8203 and 0.8117/0.7863, respectively. Additionally, the 12 microsatellite markers generated a cumulative identity probability of 1.51 x 10(-10), indicating a high level of accuracy of accession identification. The set of markers that we used allowed the identification of 52 of the 60 olive genotypes, in addition to the recognition of several varietal synonyms. The components of a two-dimensional principal coordinate analysis explained 48.6% of the total genetic variation. The results obtained from the microsatellite markers showed a substantial degree of genetic diversity in the olive tree accessions used in Brazil.