Unveiling Genetic Relationships between Wild and Cultivated Olives

The olive is considered one of the most economically significant fruit crops in the Mediterranean region, where it is cultivated in nearly all countries bordering the basin. Its fruit has served as a vital source of food and oil for centuries. Investigating the genetic structure of the olive, encompassing both wild and cultivated forms, can provide valuable insights into the genetic diversity of olive germplasm and offer a better understanding of the species' long domestication history. In this study, the genetic structure of wild olive populations and local cultivars was analyzed. A total of 83 wild olive individuals were sampled from major olive-growing regions of Türkiye, alongside 23 local olive cultivars. To broaden the scope of the analysis, haplotypes identified in this study were integrated with previously reported haplotypes from across the Mediterranean, retrieved from GenBank. The findings revealed that (i) all Turkish cultivars clustered with wild populations, likely reflecting their local origin, and (ii) several cultivars from the western Mediterranean grouped with both eastern Mediterranean cultivars and wild olives, suggesting possible direct introductions from the eastern region. Overall, the results of this study contribute to a deeper understanding of the genetic relationships between local olive cultivars and wild olive populations in the eastern Mediterranean, shedding light on the domestication pathways of the species.