The date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) is the most important
fruit bearing crop in arid regions of the Middle East and
North Africa. The knowledge on genetic structure of date
palm is limited and understanding of genetic variability
within date palms is important for the efficient utilization
of the genetic resources in breeding. Therefore, in the
present study, genetic analysis of 14 date palm cultivars
collected from 28 localities in Iran was performed to provide
prospective of genetic variability and population structure.
In addition, publically available sequencing data of
chloroplast genome available for 47 cultivars was also
explored. The results showed a good level of genetic
variability among the cultivars. Grouping of the cultivars
was not related to their geographical distribution and no
correlation was observed between genetic distance and
geographical distance of date palms. Population structure
analysis revealed the presence of a low degree of common
shared alleles between date palms cultivars that indicate
probable local adaptation in structuring the genetic content
of date palms.
Keywords: Phoenix dactylifera, ISSR, cp-DNA, fingerprinting
Year: 2018
Volume: 78
Issue: 4
Article DOI: 10.31742/IJGPB.78.4.13
Print ISSN: 0019-5200
Online ISSN: 0975-6906
Moslem Sharifi, Masoud Sheidai and Fahimeh Koohdar info_circle