Analysis of Olive (Olea Europaea L.) Genetic Resources in Relation to the Content of Vitamin E in Virgin Olive Oil

Abstract

Virgin olive oil (VOO) is the main source of lipids in the Mediterranean diet and one of the main contributors to its proven protection against diseases associated with chronic inflammation states. This oil is rich in antioxidant compounds such as tocopherols, which together constitute the vitamin E stock of the oil. The purpose of the present work was to conduct a study on the diversity of the contents of vitamin E in the olive species (Olea europaea L.), and to know how the season climatic conditions and the degree of fruit ripening stage influences the final content of this vitamin in VOO. Data showed that the content of vitamin E in VOO is highly dependent on the olive cultivar, displaying a wide variability (89–1410 mg tocopherol/kg oil) in the olive species, and that is also dependent, to a lesser extent, on the crop year climate and the stage of fruit ripening. In addition, the suitability of cultivar crosses for breeding programs to obtain new cultivars with improved vitamin E content in VOO has been assessed. Our findings demonstrated that a single cross of olive cultivars may provide sufficient variability to be used in the selection of new cultivars.

The Oleic/Linoleic Acid Ratio in Olive (Olea europaea L.) Fruit Mesocarp Is Mainly Controlled by OeFAD2-2 and OeFAD2-5 Genes Together With the Different Specificity of Extraplastidial Acyltransferase Enzymes

“…High variability was also found between the saturated/unsaturated ratio, mainly due to the differences found in palmitic acid content, with the highest (23.70%) and the lowest (9.68%) levels detected in cultivars Dokkar and Majhol-152, respectively (Supplementary Table 2). A high level of variability of the Core-36 has also been previously reported for the VOO phenolic and volatile fractions (García-Rodríguez et al, 2017;García-Vico et al, 2017), and tocopherol composition (Pérez et al, 2019). Therefore, our results confirm the evidence that cultivar differences in the fatty acid composition of olive oils are due to the genetic component (Tous et al, 2005;De la Rosa et al, 2013;Montaño et al, 2016).…”

Extra Virgin Olive Oil Extracts of Indigenous Southern Tuscany Cultivar Act as Anti-Inflammatory and Vasorelaxant Nutraceuticals

“…Tocopherols represent the vitamin E content of olive oil, and they are known to play a synergistic antioxidant effect together with biophenols. Moreover, a supranutritional intake of tocopherols has been reported to be beneficial in cardiovascular diseases, cancer, inflammation, and neurodegenerative diseases [43]. For these reasons, we decided to evaluate the tocopherols content of the 18 EVOO samples by following the above-mentioned protocol.…”

Influence of environmental growth temperature on tocopherol and sterol oil concentrations in olive fruit

“…α‐Tocopherol is the main tocopherol homolog (90%) in virgin olive oils, along with lesser amounts of γ‐tocopherol and sometimes β‐tocopherol. Their exact concentrations differ between cultivars and change during fruit ripening 9 . The highest concentrations of total tocopherols have been found in early fruit development and they decrease during fruit growth until about 90 days after full bloom, when they start to decrease at a considerably lower rate or remain stable until harvest, 10 with this general dynamic being influenced by the cultivar and the irrigation regime 11‐13 .…”