Genetic Diversity Analysis of Date Palm Using Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPD) and Inter-Simple Sequence Repeat (ISSR).

Random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) and inter-simple sequence repeat (ISSR) are PCR-based molecular techniques used for evaluation and characterization of date palm to find the best genotype and male/female identification at an early stage. Genetic fingerprinting using molecular markers is an important tool for the analysis of genetic diversity and cultivar identification. Here, we present an improved DNA extraction protocol using leaf tissue, based on the standard cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) protocol, which yields large amounts of high-quality amplifiable DNA. RAPD and ISSR markers reveal sufficient genetic diversity as well as give some unique markers in some genotypes with a maximum number of bands.