SummaryThis study characterises the genetic variability of local pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) germplasm from the Slovenian and Croatian areas of Istria. The bioactive components and antioxidant and antimicrobial properties of ethanol and water extracts of different parts of pomegranate fruit were also determined, along with their preliminary nutritional characterisation. Twenty-six different genotypes identified with microsatellite analysis indicate the great diversity of pomegranate in Istria. The pomegranate fruit ethanol extracts represent rich sources of phenolic compounds (mean value of the mass fraction in exocarp and mesocarp expressed as gallic acid is 23 and 16 mg/g, respectively). The ethanol extracts of pomegranate exocarp and mesocarp showed the greatest antimicrobial activity against Candida albicans, Candida parapsilosis, Rhodotorula mucilaginosa, Exophiala dermatitidis and Staphylococcus aureus, and the same water extracts against S. aureus and Escherichia coli. To the best of our knowledge, this study represents the first report of the characterisation of pomegranate genetic resources from Istria at different levels, including the molecular, chemical, antimicrobial and nutritional properties.

No abstract

No abstract

The olive (Olea europaea L.) is a leading oil crop in the Mediterranean area. Limited information on the inheritance of agronomic significant traits hinders progress in olive breeding programs, which encourages the development of markers linked to the traits. In this study, we report on the development of 46 olive simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers, obtained from 577,025 expressed sequence tags (ESTs) in developing olive fruits generated in the framework of the Slovenian national olive transcriptome project. Sequences were de novo assembled into 98,924 unigenes, which were then used as a source for microsatellites searching. We identified 923 unigenes that contained 984 SSRs among which dinucleotide SSRs (36 %) were the most abundant, followed by tri-(33 %) and hexa-(21 %) nucleotides. Microsatellite repeat motif GA (37 %) was the most common among dinucleotides, while microsatellite repeat motif GAA was the most abundant trinucleotide SSR motif (16 %). Gene ontology annotations could be assigned to 27 % of the unigenes. A hundred and ten expressed sequence tag-derived-simple sequence repeats (EST-SSRs) with annotated genes were selected for primer designing and finally, 46 (42 %) polymorphic EST-SSRs were successfully amplified and used to validate genetic diversity among 24 olive varieties. The average number of alleles per locus, observed heterozygosity, expected heterozygosity, and polymorphic information content were 4.5, 0.649, 0.604 and 0.539, respectively. Twenty-seven EST-SSRs showed good diversity properties and were recommended for further olive genome investigation.

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

Jujube (Ziziphus jujuba Mill.) has favourable horticultural properties including adaptation to arid conditions, abiotic and biotic stresses, as well as positive impact on human health. The present study describes the characterization of genetic diversity of the germ­plasm of jujube from the Istrian peninsula, the determination of important chemical compounds, antioxidative properties in relation to antibacterial and antifungal activities of jujube fruit extracts, and the determination of nutritional properties of jujube fruit. The results of the genetic analysis showed that most of the samples from the Istrian peninsula belong to two recently introduced varieties, 'Li' and 'Lang', and the most widespread local variety 'Navadna žižola'. The local variety has smaller fruit than the ‘Li’ and ‘Lang’ varieties, with thick and fleshy mesocarp. Chemical analysis indicated that fruits of the local variety contained a valuable source of dietary fibre ((9.7±0.6) g/100 g) and were rich in minerals such as (in g/100 g dry mass): potassium (829±51), calcium (177±11) and phosphorus (129±19). Aqueous extracts showed slight antibacterial activity, while ethanol extracts had higher mass fractions of phenolic compounds (expressed as gallic acid equivalents (GAE), 5.8-8.7 mg/g) than the aqueous extracts, but did not show antimicrobial activity. Compounds other than phenolic compounds in jujube fruit may be more biologically active. Based on the results of these analyses, the local Istrian jujube variety is a promising candidate for cultivation potential.