title: Endemic insular and coastal Tunisian date palm genetic diversity.
abstract: The breeding of crop species relies on the valorisation of ancestral or wild varieties to enrich the cultivated germplasm. The Tunisian date palm genetic patrimony is being threatened by diversity loss and global climate change. We have conducted a genetic study to evaluate the potential of spontaneous coastal resources to improve the currently exploited Tunisian date palm genetic pool. Eighteen microsatellite loci of Phoenix dactylifera L. were used to compare the genetic diversity of coastal accessions from Kerkennah, Djerba, Gabès and continental date palm accessions from Tozeur. A collection of 105 date palms from the four regions was analysed. This study has provided us with an extensive understanding of the local genetic diversity and its distribution. The coastal date palm genotypes exhibit a high and specific genetic diversity. These genotypes are certainly an untapped reservoir of agronomically important genes to improve cultivated germplasm in continental date palm.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de génétique moléculaire immunologie et biotechnologie, Faculté des Sciences de Tunis, Université Tunis El Manar, Campus Universitaire, 2092, El Manar, Tunis, Tunisia. szehdi@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Salwa
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zehdi-Azouzi
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de génétique moléculaire immunologie et biotechnologie, Faculté des Sciences de Tunis, Université Tunis El Manar, Campus Universitaire, 2092, El Manar, Tunis, Tunisia.|IRD, UMR DIADE F2F and DYNADIV Teams, 911 Av. Agropolis, BP 64501, 34394, Montpellier Cedex 5, France.
authors.forename: Emira
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Cherif
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de génétique moléculaire immunologie et biotechnologie, Faculté des Sciences de Tunis, Université Tunis El Manar, Campus Universitaire, 2092, El Manar, Tunis, Tunisia.
authors.forename: Karim
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Guenni
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de génétique moléculaire immunologie et biotechnologie, Faculté des Sciences de Tunis, Université Tunis El Manar, Campus Universitaire, 2092, El Manar, Tunis, Tunisia.
authors.forename: Ahmed Ben
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Abdelkrim
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de génétique moléculaire immunologie et biotechnologie, Faculté des Sciences de Tunis, Université Tunis El Manar, Campus Universitaire, 2092, El Manar, Tunis, Tunisia.
authors.forename: Aymen
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bermil
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de génétique moléculaire immunologie et biotechnologie, Faculté des Sciences de Tunis, Université Tunis El Manar, Campus Universitaire, 2092, El Manar, Tunis, Tunisia.
authors.forename: Soumaya
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rhouma
authors.affiliation: Centre Régional de Recherche en Agriculture Oasienne, 2260, Degueche, Tunisia.
authors.forename: Mohamed Ben
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Salah
authors.affiliation: INRA, UMR 1097 Diversité et Adaptation des Plantes Cultivées, 2 Place Viala, 34060, Montpellier Cedex 1, France.
authors.forename: Sylvain
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Santoni
authors.affiliation: IRD, UMR DIADE F2F and DYNADIV Teams, 911 Av. Agropolis, BP 64501, 34394, Montpellier Cedex 5, France.
authors.forename: Jean Christophe
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Pintaud
authors.affiliation: IRD, UMR DIADE F2F and DYNADIV Teams, 911 Av. Agropolis, BP 64501, 34394, Montpellier Cedex 5, France.
authors.forename: Frédérique
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Aberlenc-Bertossi
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de génétique moléculaire immunologie et biotechnologie, Faculté des Sciences de Tunis, Université Tunis El Manar, Campus Universitaire, 2092, El Manar, Tunis, Tunisia.
authors.forename: Amel Salhi
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Hannachi
mesh_terms: D018742:DNA, Chloroplast / Q000235:genetics; D018744:DNA, Plant / Q000235:genetics; D014644:Genetic Variation; D005828:Genetics, Population; D005838:Genotype; D018895:Microsatellite Repeats; D018598:Minisatellite Repeats; D065749:Phoeniceae / Q000235:genetics*; D000069600:Plant Breeding; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D014416:Tunisia
chemical_list: D018742:DNA, Chloroplast; D018744:DNA, Plant
keywords: Genetic diversity; Phoenix dactylifera L.; SSR; Spontaneous genotypes; Tunisia