Today, a range of biotechnological approaches, from somatic embryogenesis t
o biomolecular research, play an increasingly important role in breeding st
rategies for oil palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.).
Clonal micropropagation. Methods of cloning by in vitro culture led to the
development of a micropropagation technique for oil palm based on somatic e
mbryogenesis which was tested at the pilot stage on elite genotypes, thus e
nabling the production of high oil yielding clones. This phase allowed the
identification of limiting factors associated with scaling-up, with respect
in particular to the scale of mass production required to meet the needs o
f planters and to the problem of ensuring genetic fidelity in the regenerat
ed plant material. These two concerns led researchers to look further into
the underlying physiological and/or molecular mechanisms involved in somati
c embryogenesis and the somaclonal variation events induced by the in vitro
cloning procedure,
Structural and functional genomics. Marker-assisted breeding in oil palm is
a long-term multi-stage project including: molecular analysis of genetic d
iversity in both E. guineensis and E. oleifera germplasms; large scale deve
lopment of PCR-based microsatellite markers, and parallel development of th
ree genome mapping and QTL detection projects studying key agronomic charac
ters.
Post-genomics. In order to tackle the problem of the mantled flowering abno
rmality, which is induced during the micropropagation process, studies of g
ene expression have been carried out in tissue cultures as a means of estab
lishing an early clonal conformity testing procedure. It is important to as
sess what kind of methodology is the most appropriate for clonal conformity
testing by comparing RNA, protein and DNA (PCR) based approaches. Parallel
studies on genomic DNA methylation changes induced by tissue culture sugge
st that the latter may play an important role in the determination of the m
antled abnormality.