IDENTIFYING OLIVE CULTIVARS BY ISOZYME ANALYSIS

Pollen samples of 155 olive (Olea europaea L.) cultivars from differen t origins were analyzed to study isoenzymatic variability in five enzy me systems: alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH), esterase (EST), glucose phosp hate isomerase (GPI), leucine aminopeptidase (LAP), and malic enzyme ( ME) using starch gel electrophoresis. Polymorphism was observed in all of the isozyme systems. ME, GPI, EST, and LAP were the most useful sy stems for identification of cultivars. Different combinations of bandi ng patterns of these systems allowed us to identify 85% of the cultiva rs. The remainder were separated into groups of two or three cultivars that could be identified using morphological characteristics. No intr acultivar polymorphisms were observed.