Genetic variability studies and molecular fingerprinting of some Egyptian date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) cultivars [electronic resource]: I.a preliminary study using RAPD markers.

Includes references.

Determination of genetic variability and proper cultivar identification in date palm would be of major importance in improvement programs and in germplasm characterization and conservation to control genetic erosion. In a preliminary study for fingerprinting Egyptian'date palm cultivars, the reliability of the RAPD technology for the identification of five cultivars (Zaghloul, Samany, Hayany, Siwi and Amhat) has been assayed. Two different protocols for DNA extraction have been tested and optimization of the PCR conditions was performed. Intra and inter varietal variations were investigated using ten random decamer primers. Only five primers generated reproducible, pertinent RAPD profiles. Due to the dioceous nature of date palm trees intravarietal polymorphism was detected among the sixteen individual samples representing each cultivar. The different RAPD profiles displayed within each cultivar and among cultivars were analyzed to identify markers that are characteristic for each cultivar. Key words: Date palm, RAPD, molecular markers.

Summary in Arabic.

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