Sweet cherry (Prunus avium L.) is a temperate fruit species whose production might be highly impacted by climate change in the near future. Diversity of plant material could be an option to mitigate these climate risks by enabling producers to have new cultivars well adapted to new environmental conditions. In this study, subsets of sweet cherry collections of 19 European countries were genotyped using 14 SSR. The objectives of this study were (i) to assess genetic diversity parameters, (ii) to estimate the levels of population structure, and (iii) to identify germplasm redundancies. A total of 314 accessions, including landraces, early selections, and modern cultivars, were monitored, and 220 unique SSR genotypes were identified. All 14 loci were confirmed to be polymorphic, and a total of 137 alleles were detected with a mean of 9.8 alleles per locus. The average number of alleles (N = 9.8), PIC value (0.658), observed heterozygosity (Ho = 0.71), and expected heterozygosity (He = 0.70) were higher in this study compared to values reported so far. Four ancestral populations were detected using STRUCTURE software and confirmed by Principal Coordinate Analysis (PCoA), and two of them (K1 and K4) could be attributed to the geographical origin of the accessions. A N-J tree grouped the 220 sweet cherry accessions within three main clusters and six subgroups. Accessions belonging to the four STRUCTURE populations roughly clustered together. Clustering confirmed known genealogical data for several accessions. The large genetic diversity of the collection was demonstrated, in particular within the landrace pool, justifying the efforts made over decades for their conservation. New sources of diversity will allow producers to face challenges, such as climate change and the need to develop more sustainable production systems.

Balsgård Department of Plant Breeding Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences Fjälkestadsvägen 459 29194 Kristianstad Sweden

CRA W Centre Wallon de Recherches Agronomiques Plant Breeding and Biodiversity Bâtiment Emile Marchal Rue de Liroux 4 5030 Gembloux Belgium

CREA Research Centre for Olive Fruit and Citrus Crops via la Canapona 1 bis 47121 Forlì Italy

Département Arboriculture Arboriculture Fruitière Viticulture Ecole Nationale d'Agriculture de Meknès B P S 40 Meknès 50000 Morocco

Department for Plant Breeding Genetics and Biometrics Faculty of Agriculture University of Zagreb Svetošimunska 25 HR 10000 Zagreb Croatia

Department of Crop Science School of Agriculture Policy and Development University of Reading Reading RG6 6EU UK

Division of Viticulture and Pomology University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna Gregor Mendel Strasse 33 1180 Vienna Austria

Faculty of Engineering and Science Natural Resources Institute University of Greenwich Chatham Kent ME4 4TB UK

Federal Research Centre for Cultivated Plants Institute for Breeding Research on Fruit Crops Julius Kühn Institute Pillnitzer Platz 3a 01326 Dresden Germany

Genetics Genomics and Breeding Department NIAB EMR New Road East Malling Kent ME19 6BJ UK

Hellenic Agricultural Organization 'DEMETER' Department of Deciduous Fruit Trees Institute of Plant Breeding and Genetic Resources 38 RR Station 59200 Naoussa Greece

INRAE Unité Expérimentale Arboricole Domaine de la Tour de Rance 47320 Bourran France

INRAE University of Bordeaux UMR BFP 33882 Villenave d'Ornon France

Institute for Genetic Resources University of Banja Luka Bulevar vojvode Petra Bojovica 1A 78000 Banja Luka Bosnia and Herzegovina

Institute of Horticulture Graudu 1 LV 3701 Dobele Latvia

Mediterranean Institute for Agriculture Environment and Development and Departamento de Fitotecnia Escola de Ciências e Tecnologia Universidade de Évora Pólo da Mitra Ap 94 7006 554 Évora Portugal

National Agricultural Research and Innovation Centre Gödöllő H 1223 Budapest Hungary

NIBIO Ullensvang The Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research Ullensvangvegen 1005 N 5781 Lofthus Norway

NPPC Výskumný ústav Rastlinnej Výroby VÚRV Research Institute of Plant Production RIPP Bratislavská 122 921 68 Piešťany Slovakia

Polli Horticultural Research Centre Institute of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences Uus 2 69108 Polli Estonia

Research and Breeding Institute of Pomology Holovousy Ltd Holovousy 129 508 01 Hořice Czech Republic

Research Station for Fruit Growing 175 Voinesti RO707305 Iasi Romania

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