ASSESSMENT SSR MARKERS USED IN ANALYSIS OF GENETIC DIVERSITY OF DATE PALM (Phoenix dactylifera L.)

Molecular markers have become a very important resource for genetic studies in crops. Due to their genome-wide abundance, it has increased its use for genetic studies in genomes of animals and plants. They have been used in the germplasm of the date palm to identify genetic diversity, sex determination and gene characterization. RAPD, RFLP, AFLP, ISSR and SSR are DNA based molecular markers that have been used to perform genetic diversity analyses. Advantages and disadvantages have been judged based on the level of polymorphism they capture, the quality of template DNA needed, the development cost, the reliability and the level of skill required. Simple sequence repeats (SSR) are DNA based molecular markers that have been used to perform genetic diversity analyses, sex determination and gene characterization in date palm. The SSR markers satisfy most requirements for accurate analysis of genetic diversity. The current study assess the performance of 255 SSR microsatellites that were used in recent studies, where patterns of genetic diversity were analyzed among 1066 date palms, from 411 cultivars in 12 countries. In addition, the different results of genetic diversity are presented, and the 19 SSR markers showing the best performance, were identified for future analysis of genetic diversity in the date palm.