Biologia Celular e Molecular

Abstrato

Genetic Identification of Unknown Date Palm Genotypes and their Relation to Saudi Date Palm Cultivars

Abdullah S. Alsohim

In Saudi Arabia, date palm is the most important fruit tree, and little is known about its germplasm. The aim of the present, study was to analyze genetic diversity among 27 date palms using ISSR markers and also to study genetic relationship between unknown date palm genotypes and commercial Saudi date palm cultivars. Among the fourteen ISSR primers used, eight of them showed a net amplification of DNA fragments. The repeats (AG)8 were the most abundant in date palm. The molecular variance showed variability of 60% among genotypes. The date palm genotypes were clustered to four groups. The dendrogram showed that the following genotypes are in the same subgroup: unknown genotype (UN1) from Al-Bosr; and cultivar Barhi; cultivar “Khlas” and unknown genotype (SL) “Slaga”. Cultivar “Nabtit Ali” and unknown genotype “Sahimia”. Moreover, two individuals (YS and BS) of “Sukary” were found in the same subgroup and in the same level. This was the case of cultivar “Barhi” individuals and cultivar “Khlas” individuals. However, yellow Sukary (YS) was not in the same group of red Sukary (RS). It is the first time to establish a relation between male palm and date palm cultivars, and also to report that male palm and cultivar yellow Sukary were in the same group. Results showed that some unknown date palm genotypes are closely grouped with Saudi cultivars. Results also revealed the existence of genetic variation in the invGE/GF locus for sugar content among date palm genotypes. Further work is needed to investigate the association between phenotype of sugar components and invertase genes.