Grapevine (Vitis vinifera ssp. sativa) is a perennial crop especially important for wine and fruit production. The species is highly polymorphic with thousands of different varieties selected by farmers and clonally propagated. However, it is still debated whether grapevine domestication from its wild ancestor (V. vinifera ssp. sylvestris) has been a single event or rather it occurred on multiple occasions during the diffusion of its cultivation across the Mediterranean. Located in the center of the Basin, Sicily is its largest island and has served as a hotspot for all civilizations that have crossed the Mediterranean throughout history. Hundreds of unique grapevine cultivars are still cultivated in Sicily and its surrounding minor islands, though most of them are menaced by extinction. Wild grapevine is also present with isolated populations thriving along riverbanks. With the aim to evaluate the phylogenetic relationships among Sicilian varieties, and to assess the possible contribution of indigenous wild populations to the genetic makeup of cultivated grapevine, we analyzed 170 domestic cultivars and 125 wild plants, collected from 10 different populations, with 23 SSR markers. We also compared our data with published dataset from Eurasia. Results show that Sicilian wild populations are related to the cultivated Sicilian and Italian germplasm, suggesting events of introgression and/or domestication of local varieties.

Caper (Capparis spinosa L.) is a xerophytic shrub cultivated for its flower buds and fruits, used as food and for their medicinal properties. Breeding programs and even proper taxonomic classification of the genus Capparis has been hampered so far by the lack of reliable genetic information and molecular markers. Here, we present the first genomic resource for C. spinosa, generated by transcriptomic approach and de novo assembly. The sequencing effort produced nearly 80 million clean reads assembled into 124,723 unitranscripts. Careful annotation and comparison with public databases revealed homologs to genes with a key role in important metabolic pathways linked to abiotic stress tolerance and bio-compounds production, such purine, thiamine and phenylpropanoid biosynthesis, α-linolenic acid and lipid metabolism. Additionally, a panel of genes involved in stomatal development/distribution and encoding for Stress Associated Proteins (SAPs) was also identified. We also used the transcriptomic data to uncover novel molecular markers for caper. Out of 50 SSRs tested, 14 proved polymorphic and represent the first set of SSR markers for the genus Capparis. This transcriptome will be an important contribution to future studies and breeding programs for this orphan crop, aiding to the development of improved varieties to sustain agriculture in arid conditions.

Genetic diversity and population structure studies of local olive germplasm are important to safeguard biodiversity, for genetic resources management and to improve the knowledge on the distribution and evolution patterns of this species. In the present study Algerian olive germplasm was characterized using 16 nuclear (nuSSR) and six chloroplast (cpSSR) microsatellites. Algerian varieties, collected from the National Olive Germplasm Repository (ITAFV), 10 of which had never been genotyped before, were analyzed. Our results highlighted the presence of an exclusive genetic core represented by 13 cultivars located in a mountainous area in the North-East of Algeria, named Little Kabylie. Comparison with published datasets, representative of the Mediterranean genetic background, revealed that the most Algerian varieties showed affinity with Central and Eastern Mediterranean cultivars. Interestingly, cpSSR phylogenetic analysis supported results from nuSSRs, highlighting similarities between Algerian germplasm and wild olives from Greece, Italy, Spain and Morocco. This study sheds light on the genetic relationship of Algerian and Mediterranean olive germplasm suggesting possible events of secondary domestication and/or crossing and hybridization across the Mediterranean area. Our findings revealed a distinctive genetic background for cultivars from Little Kabylie and support the increasing awareness that North Africa represents a hotspot of diversity for crop varieties and crop wild relative species.