A Simplified Approach for Olive ( Olea europaea L.) Genotyping and Cultivars Traceability

Abstract

The Tubulin Based Polymorphism (TBP) method was used to genotype olive cultivars of different origin and to produce short-size cultivar-specific molecular probes. Both the first and the second intron of the members of the olive β-tubulin gene family were exploited as sources of DNA polymorphism. Compared with the data obtained with the use of a set of 11 SSR markers selected from an Olea europea L. database, TBP is shown to provide similar, if not better, information about the polymorphic content of the olive genomes, releasing, at the same time, a simple and discriminatory DNA barcode specific for any of the analyzed cultivars. Such a barcode is the source for the preparation of variety specific molecular probes.