Genetic diversity in Tunisian olive accessions and their relatedness with other Mediterranean olive genotypes

Eighty-four olive accessions obtained from the National Conservatory of Boughrara-Sfax (Tunisia), previously evaluated for morphological traits, were analysed with 47 random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers. They were compared with other olive genotypes originated from Eastern or Western Mediterranean. The highest and lowest similarities between genotypes, estimated by simple matching algorithm, were 0.98 and 0.40, respectively. A dendrogram based on Ward's method and a factorial correspondence analysis (FCA) showed that most of Tunisian accessions are closely related to olive genotypes originating from the Eastern Mediterranean and some are clustering with genotypes originated from the Western Mediterranean. These findings suggested multiple and complex origin of Tunisian olive. A comparative study between a previous morphological analysis and current RAPD assay was carried out and discussed.