Full Length Research Paper

Regeneration and molecular analysis of date palm (Phœnix dactylifera L.) plantlets using RAPD markers

othmani Ahmed¹*, Bayoudh Chokri², Drira Noureddine³, Marrakchi Mohamed¹ and Trifi Mokhtar¹

¹Faculté des Sciences de Tunis, Laboratoire de Génétique Moléculaire, Immunologie et Biotechnologie, 2092 El Manar II, Tunis, Tunisia.

²Centre Régional des Recherches en Agriculture Oasienne, Laboratoire de Culture In Vitro,  2260 Degache, Tunisia.

³Faculté des Sciences de Sfax, Laboratoire des Biotechnologies Végétales Appliquées à l’Amélioration Des Cultures, Tunisia.

*Corresponding author. E-mail: degletbey@yahoo.fr. Tel: 0021623234853.

Abbreviation: AIB: Indole-3-butyric acid; BAP: 6-Benzylaminopurine; NAA: α-Naphthalenacetic acid; 2,4-D: 2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid; MS: Murashige and Skoog medium.

Accepted 1 November, 2007

Clonal plants of date palm (Pœnix dactylifera L.) were regenerated from juvenile leaves on regimes consisting of the use of 2,4-D. Success depended on the concentrations of 2,4-D tested. The cultures produced adventitious shoot buds directly at the basal part of leaves as well as excessive calli. Somaclonal variation in plantlets which can be induced by 2,4-D during recurrent somatic embryogenesis were tested by random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) profiles. Nine arbitrary 10-mer primers were used to amplify DNA from 180 plantlets. RAPD patterns of the plantlets were identical with the original plant mother, indicating that 2,4-D did not induce somaclonal variation that can be detected by the RAPD technique.

Key words: Date palm, 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid, random amplified polymorphic DNA, somaclonal variation, somatic embryogenesis.