IDENTIFICATION OF DATE-PALM (PHOENIX-DACTYLIFERA L) CULTIVARS BY RFLP- PARTIAL CHARACTERIZATION OF A CDNA PROBE THAT CONTAINS A SEQUENCE ENCODING A ZINC-FINGER MOTIF

An RFLP analysis, performed on offshoot leaves surrounding the shoot t ips of four date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) cultivars (Kenessy, Lul u, Nabtha Saif, and Sheshi) generated cultivar-specific hybridization patterns with a single cDNA probe and total DNA digested by EcoRI. A n orthern blot analysis performed on RNA extracted from leaves and organ ogenic calli revealed that the cDNA probe, isolated from an organogeni c callus cDNA library of cv Boustammi Noire, hybridized to a 2.4-kb mR NA transcript. The partial nucleotide sequence of this mRNA and the de rived amino acid sequence of the open reading frame were determined. C omparison with the public sequence databases showed amino acid similar ities with Fab1p, a recently identified zinc finger protein involved i n vacuole function and interorganelle traffic pathways in yeast.