Molecular Characterization of Some Turkish Olive Cultivars Using Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPD) Markers

Olive (olea europea l.) is one of the oldest cultivated plants characteristic in the mediterranean area, where it is the most important oil-producing crop. the cultivated olive (o. europaea l. var. europaea) is propagated by cutting or grafting, whereas wild olive (o. europaea l. var. sylvestris) is reproduced from seeds. these two olive types are interfertile and have led to a large number of varieties. morphological descriptions are not entirely reliable, due to numerous synonyms and homonyms in designations, labelling mistakes, the presence of varietal clones, and the uncertain identification methods thus far applied. molecular markers, as random amplified polymorphic dna (rapd) markers, are environment-independent and efficient to identify olive varieties and to detect synonymous and homonymous. in this study, fifteen selected rapd markers are used for determination of relationships among twenty individuals belonging to four important turkish olive cultivars. our results showed that rapd markers can be used to differentiate olive cultivars.