Plums (Prunus spp.) are among the first fruit tree species that attracted human interest. Artificial crosses between wild and domesticated species of plums are still paving the way for creation of new phenotypic variability. In Tunisia, despite a considerable varietal richness of plum as well as a high economic value, the plum sector is experiencing a significant regression. The main reason of this regression is the absence of a national program of plum conservation. Hence, this work was aimed to phenotypically and genetically characterize 23 Tunisian plum accessions to preserve this patrimony. Closely related Prunus species from the same subgenus may be differing at two characteristics: ploidy level and phenotypic traits. In this study, single sequence repeat (SSR) markers allowed distinguishing between eighteen diploid accessions and five polyploid accessions, but SSR data alone precluded unambiguous ploidy estimation due to homozygosity. In contrast, S-allele markers were useful to identify the ploidy level between polyploid species, but they did not distinguish species with the same ploidy level. Seven out of 12 phenotypic traits were shown to be discriminant traits for plum species identification. Molecular and phenotypic traits were significantly correlated and revealed a powerful tool to draw taxonomic and genotypic keys. The results obtained in this work are of great importance for local Tunisian plum germplasm management.

中文翻译：

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简单序列重复，S-基因座多态性和表型数据的组合，用于鉴定突尼斯梅花种（李属）。

李子（Prunus spp。）是最早引起人类兴趣的果树树种。野生和驯化的李子品种之间的人工杂交仍为创造新的表型变异性铺平道路。在突尼斯，尽管李子具有丰富的品种丰富性和很高的经济价值，但李子行业却经历了显着的衰退。这种回归的主要原因是缺乏国家梅花保护计划。因此，这项工作的目的是在表型和遗传学上表征23种突尼斯李子品种，以保存这一遗产。密切相关的李同一亚属的物种可能在两个特征上有所不同：倍性水平和表型性状。在这项研究中，单序列重复（SSR）标记可区分18个二倍体种质和5个多倍体种质，但由于纯合性，仅靠SSR数据就可以排除明确的倍性性估计。相反，S-等位基因标记可用于识别多倍体物种之间的倍性水平，但不能区分具有相同倍性水平的物种。12种表型性状中有7种表现出可鉴别李子的特征。分子和表型性状显着相关，并揭示了绘制分类和基因型关键的强大工具。这项工作获得的结果对当地突尼斯李子种质管理非常重要。