Construction and Analysis of a First Genetic Map for Date Palm

The date palm is a tree of critical importance to agriculture in the Middle East. With its ability to withstand harsh conditions while producing nutritious fruit, the date palm offers an excellent base for further biotechnological improvement. To date, however, there has been no genetic map produced for date palm. The main reason has been lack of enough polymorphic markers and no good mapping population. Here, we present to our knowledge the first genetic linkage map for date palm. We have overcome the lack of genetic resources using genotyping by next-generation sequencing of an outbred ‘Khalas’ variety cross. The map includes thousands of markers and gives a first glimpse of the 18 date palm chromosomes including the first assignment of the sex determination region to a chromosome. It will provide a foundation for both the more finalized genome sequence and for future breeding experiments to improve the date palm. Results of the map will be discussed.