An integrated approach to assess the genetic and adaptive variation of Castanea sativa Mill.

Chestnut, as multipurpose tree species, is, among forest trees, a non classical model for population, evolutionary and ecological genomic studies. Because of its different domestication levels, it has undergone to both natural and artificial selection pressure which have shaped its present genetic and phenotypic variation. For this reason, understanding the genetic basis of its adaptive variation needs, necessarily, an integration of different disciplines and methods in order to develop appropriate strategies for conservation and utilization of its genetic resources for both ecological and economic purposes. During the last decades, traditional methods such as provenance tests and screening of molecular genetic markers have been used separately to study and measure adaptive genetic diversity in European chestnut. Recently, new approaches have been developed that combine the use of functional and neutral markers to define the genetic mechanisms of variation at landscape level. In the present paper, an overview of traditional and new approaches, used to study genetic and adaptive variation in Castanea sativa, are reported.