Evaluation of the genetic diversity of semi-natural carob germplasm of Lebanon using EST-SSR markers

Carob tree is a Mediterranean species with high agronomic and silvicultural interest.
Its relevance is increasing as it can replace other forest species already threatened and displaced by alien invasive pests or climatic change, and due to the products related with their fruit.
In this study, we assess the genetic diversity of the semi-natural carob populations growing in Lebanon using a set of nine EST-SSR markers previously designed and performed in previous studies on carob tree.
Results showed that these markers presented enough polymorphic variability and allowed to uniquely identify all the studied genotypes.
Cluster analysis showed a great variability found among and within carob populations in Lebanon, with a differentiation of the trees of the South and the ones of Mount Lebanon, while the trees from Beirut and North region were distributed in various subgroups in all clusters.
These findings suggest that Lebanon contains a valuable carob germplasm reservoir that deserve to be investigated more in depth using multi-omics analysis to better understand its performance facing environmental stressors and to valorise it in a breeding program.

XXXI International Horticultural Congress (IHC2022): International Symposium on Conservation and Sustainable Use of Horticultural Genetic Resources

M.A. El Chami, F.J. Ruiz-Gómez, G. Palacios-Rodriguez, R. Navarro-Cerrillo, A.K. El Hajj, L. Chalak

Ceratonia siliqua L., germplasm, Lebanon, EST-SSR

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2023.1384.12