Management and Genetic Diversity of an Italian Pistacia Collection Through Microsatellite Markers

Conservation and characterization of germplasm collections are essential for safeguarding agrobiodiversity and supporting breeding programs. A collection of 140 accessions comprising three different <i>Pistacia</i> species, <i>P. integerrima</i>, <i>P. terebinthus</i>, and <i>P. vera</i>, was analyzed using 27 EST-SSR markers. On average, 3.4 alleles per locus, and 28.2% rare alleles were found. Observed heterozygosity (Ho = 0.36) was lower than expected (He = 0.48), while five loci displayed PIC values above 0.50, highlighting their high informativeness. The phylogenetic analysis clearly separated the three species. Among <i>P. vera</i> samples, Nj tree and population structure analysis identified three main sub-groups: Eastern Mediterranean/Middle Eastern accessions, Italian traditional cultivars, and US modern cultivars. The first group showed higher internal variability, reflecting both local diversification and historical genetic exchanges. Through the use of EST-SSR markers, the present study assesses the genetic diversity within the <i>Pistacia</i> collection while highlighting errors due to mislabeling issues. These results confirm the effectiveness of microsatellite markers to provide a framework for the management and exploitation of genetic diversity for breeding and conservation strategies, also in the <i>Pistacia</i> genus.