AFLP VARIATION IN TISSUE CULTURE-DERIVED DATE PALM (PHOENIX DACTYLIFERA L.) PLANTS

Two tissue culture techniques, namely organogenesis and embryogenesis, were compared using ten United Arab Emirates date palm varieties (Phoenix dactylifera L.). The frequency of somaclonal variation in the resultant plants was compared and related to the types of variation at the DNA level, estimated by AFLP analysis (amplified fragment length polymorphism). The experimental conditions for the generation of reproducible AFLP markers were optimized using EcoRI and MseI primers.
All ten date palm varieties were distinguished by AFLP fingerprinting.
The incidence of somaclonal variation in plants regenerated through organogenesis tissue culture was low in contrast to the plants derived from asexual embryogenesis.
Furthermore, organogenesis derived plants were genetically closer to the mother plant.

III International Date Palm Conference

H.H. Al Kaabi, A. Zaid, H. Shephard, C. Ainsworth

somaclonal variation, organogenesis, embryogenesis, true-to-typeness

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2007.736.12