Genetic Diversity of Date Palm Genotypes in Qatar as Determined by SSR and ISSR markers

Date palm is the most important fruit tree in Qatar. Recently developed techniques, based on DNA markers, offer new tools for genetic analysis. The objectives of the present study are to analyze the genetic diversity among 15 different cultivars of date palm at the experimental farm of Qatar University using ISSR and SSR markers, and find out the genetic similarity and/or diversity among the well known date palm cultivars in the state of Qatar. DNAs were extracted from young fresh leaves. A total of 34 primers were tested for their ability to generate banding patterns in Qatari data-palm genotypes. However, 14 primers successfully produced clear bands in most of the studied genotypes. A total of 204 alleles were scored for all types of markers (SSR and ISSR). The similarity coefficient matrix was computed to cluster the data and to draw precise relationships among the fifteen studied Qatari date palm genotypes.