4 - Date Palm

Abstract

Date palm is an important perennial dioecious crop of Northern Africa and Middle East and an economically important palm in arid regions. The complete nuclear and plastid genome of the plant is sequenced, providing scope for SNP variations in identification of cultivars and sex. AFLP, RAPD, and SSR markers are utilized to characterize the diversity in different date-growing countries. Genetic diversity of date palm is low in Morocco, Saudi Arabia, and Algeria but rather high in Tunisia. Molecular markers are also useful to discriminate different species of Phoenix and few are cross-transferable to other species of Phoenix and genera of palms. RAPD and ISSR markers linked to sex are identified and have to be converted to reliable SCAR markers. Research on DNA methylation and somaclonal variants is also in progress in date palm. Genomic tools for tagging Bayoud disease, using the mitochondrial plasmid DNA variations, and detecting brittle leaf disease, using two dsRNA molecules, are being developed. By deciphering the role of storage proteins, stress-related proteins, and pathway-related enzymes, an understanding of the proteomics of three important processes of date palm obtained are (1) seed development and germination of zygotic embryos, (2) somatic and zygotic embryogenesis, and the (3) plant inoculation by endophytic fungi.