Polymorphisms of Seed Storage Proteins in Olea europaea L. Cultivars

The use of Olea europaea globulins as genetic markers for the identification of the cultivars was perfomed in the laboratory of Genetics of Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment, University of Pisa. The major component of Olea europaea L. seed storage proteins is represented by globulins. These fractions were characterised by electrophoresis and compared with the proteins extracted from protein bodies. The biochemical analysis of the olive seed globulins was carried out in sixteen different cultivars coming from several geographical areas of Italy. The electrophoretic patterns in polyacrylamide gels electrophoresis in denaturing conditions (SDS-PAGE) evidenced both qualitative and quantitative differences. It was possible to identify all the cultivars by their electrophoretic spectra. Number and position of the electrophoretic bands allowed the construction of a similarity matrix and of a dendrogram that allowed the separation into groups, according to their phylogenetic relationships. The several clusters seem to be related with agronomic traits such as fruit size or oil production; no relationships were found with the geographical cultivation areas.