Sweet orange (Citrus sinensis L.) cultivars are the result of somatic mutations accumulated over centuries from a single ancestor. Sweet oranges are usually divided into four groups: Common, Navel, Acidless, and Blood (or Pigmented). Blood oranges are typically grown in the Mediterranean area, especially in southern Italy, and consist of hundreds of clonal selections belonging to three main subgroups ('Tarocco', 'Moro', and 'Sanguinello'). Blood oranges are used either for fresh consumption and juice production and are appreciated for their nutraceutical value, due to the presence of anthocyanins and other bioactive compounds. In Italy, some blood orange cultivars are included in a PGI protected label. To analyse the genotypic variability among different genotypes and groups of oranges, 29 accessions belonging to the ex situ germplasm collections of the University of Catania (Italy) and IVIA (Spain) have been selected for their traits of interest and included in this study. These genotypes were resequenced using the Illumina platform at a coverage of 40× allowing a univocal characterization of all the clones and the detection of unique SNPs (i.e., a locus characterized by a genotypic class unique for a single accession) for true-to-type analysis and traceability. To this extent, at least one unique SNP was identified and able to discriminate the varietal groups and each single accession. The in silico detection of the unique SNPs was validated through a high-resolution melting analysis (HRM) both in leaf tissue, fresh juice, and commercial beverages. The results of this study pave the way for the development of an efficient and inexpensive technology for the identification of clones and/or varietal groups in any step of the food supply chain, from nurseries to the transformed product. Such system is necessary to ensure food quality and traceability and to protect against fraud, especially in the case of protected cultivars.
Development of SNP markers for blood orange ( Citrus sinensis L.) cultivar identification from nursery to derived food products
Distefano, G.
Primo
;Seminara, S.;Di Guardo, M.;Scollo, F.;Bennici, S.;Nicolosi, E.;La Malfa, S.;Gentile, A.
2026-01-01
Abstract
Sweet orange (Citrus sinensis L.) cultivars are the result of somatic mutations accumulated over centuries from a single ancestor. Sweet oranges are usually divided into four groups: Common, Navel, Acidless, and Blood (or Pigmented). Blood oranges are typically grown in the Mediterranean area, especially in southern Italy, and consist of hundreds of clonal selections belonging to three main subgroups ('Tarocco', 'Moro', and 'Sanguinello'). Blood oranges are used either for fresh consumption and juice production and are appreciated for their nutraceutical value, due to the presence of anthocyanins and other bioactive compounds. In Italy, some blood orange cultivars are included in a PGI protected label. To analyse the genotypic variability among different genotypes and groups of oranges, 29 accessions belonging to the ex situ germplasm collections of the University of Catania (Italy) and IVIA (Spain) have been selected for their traits of interest and included in this study. These genotypes were resequenced using the Illumina platform at a coverage of 40× allowing a univocal characterization of all the clones and the detection of unique SNPs (i.e., a locus characterized by a genotypic class unique for a single accession) for true-to-type analysis and traceability. To this extent, at least one unique SNP was identified and able to discriminate the varietal groups and each single accession. The in silico detection of the unique SNPs was validated through a high-resolution melting analysis (HRM) both in leaf tissue, fresh juice, and commercial beverages. The results of this study pave the way for the development of an efficient and inexpensive technology for the identification of clones and/or varietal groups in any step of the food supply chain, from nurseries to the transformed product. Such system is necessary to ensure food quality and traceability and to protect against fraud, especially in the case of protected cultivars.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
