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Abstract Background Olive is one of the most cultivated species in the Mediterranean Basin and beyond. Despite being extensively studied for its commercial relevance, the origin of cultivated olive and the history of its domestication remain open questions. Here, we present a genealogical and kinship relationships analysis by mean of chloroplast and nuclear markers of different genera, subgenus, species, subspecies, ecotypes, cultivated, ancient and wild types, which constitutes one of the most inclusive research to date on the diversity within Olea europaea species. A complete survey of the variability across the nuclear and plastid genomes of different genotypes was studied through single nucleotide polymorphisms, indels (insertions and deletions), and length variation. Results Fifty-six different chlorotypes were identified among the Oleaceae family including Olea europaea, other species and genera. The chloroplast genome evolution, within Olea europaea subspecies, probably started from subsp. cuspidata, which likely represents the ancestor of all the other subspecies and therefore of wild types and cultivars. Our study allows us to hypothesize that, inside the subspecies europaea containing cultivars and the wild types, the ancestral selection from var. sylvestris occurred both in the eastern side of the Mediterranean and in the central-western part of Basin. Moreover, it was elucidated the origin of several cultivars, which depends on the introduction of eastern cultivars, belonging to the lineage E1, followed by crossing and replacement of the autochthonous olive germplasm of central-western Mediterranean Basin. In fact, our study highlighted that two main ‘founders’ gave the origin to more than 60% of analyzed olive cultivars. Other secondary founders, which strongly contributed to give origin to the actual olive cultivar diversity, were already detected. Conclusions The application of comparative genomics not only paves the way for a better understanding of the phylogenetic relationships within the Olea europaea species but also provides original insights into other elusive evolutionary processes, such as chloroplast inheritance and parentage inside olive cultivars, opening new scenarios for further research such as the association studies and breeding programs. |
