Recent advances in genomics, conservation, and breeding of pistachio

Pistacia vera L. is a long-lived plant species, well adapted to marginal lands and to drought conditions. It is grown as an economically valuable crop in a number of semi-arid regions worldwide. Pistachios have many beneficial health effects and can be used to fight disease. Even so, pistachios are underexploited in spite of their wide native range and vast genetic diversity. In addition, the strong genetic erosion caused by a variety of bacterial and antibiotic factors threatens this species to a great extent. Despite extensive work on the diversity and genetic improvement of fruiting pistachio trees, breeding problems remain. Recent efforts have focused on developing DNA-based markers that can characterize the genetic diversity of pistachio populations and establish relationships between different varieties. In addition, with the availability of pistachio nuclear and chloroplast genome sequences, a remarkable amount of information is now available, and more molecular markers can be used to study systems, cultivar relatedness, and genetic map structure. This review collects recent information about Pistacia germplasm conservation and utilization. These tools will greatly assist breeding programs that should be organized in collaboration with all producer countries in order to create solutions for preventing genetic erosion.