This book provides an introduction to the genetics, genomics, and breeding of the olive tree, a multi-functional long-lived crop plant that is relevant not only for culinary olive and oil production, but also for shaping the landscape and history of many rural areas for centuries.
Today, the recognized health benefits of extra-virgin olive oil provide new impulses for introducing innovation in olive crop management and olive breeding for a deeper understanding of the biological processes underlying fruit quality, adaptation to crop environment and response to threatening epidemics due to biological agents such as Xylella fastidiosa.
The individual chapters discuss genetic resources; classic and modern breeding methods for providing new olive cultivars; the genotype x environment interactions determining the response to biotic and abiotic stresses; fruit metabolism related to oil production and the synthesis of health beneficial molecules; the mapping of genes and quantitative trait locus; and genomic, transcriptomic and proteomic strategies pertinent to the development of a molecular platform and template amenable to precise and rapid genetic modifications using recently developed genome editing tools.
CONTENTS
Olive Genetic Resources
Olive Growing in a Time of Change: From Empiricism to Genomics
Genetic Mapping and Detection of Quantitative Trait Loci
Host Response to Biotic Stresses
Physiological Responses to Abiotic Stresses
Metabolomics of Olive Fruit: A Focus on the Secondary Metabolites
Olive Breeding with Classical and Modern Approaches
Olive Breeding with Classical and Modern Approaches