PhoenixDB, a Bioinformatic Application for Date Palm Genotype Identification

The date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) has great socioeconomic and ecologic importance in the arid and semi arid zones of Maghreb and Middle East. The genetic resources of this species are threatened by clonal propagation and factors such as diseases, drought and soil salinization. To organize the conservation of date palm germplasm, it is imperative to characterize the genetic diversity. We propose an integrated solution for date palm genotyping which includes three major components. The first one is the creation of an « identification key » based on a new optimized microsatellite markers set, validated on a large sampling representing the genetic diversity of the species. The second one is a « reference library » consisting of genotype information from a collection of 150 major Phoenix dactylifera cultivars. The third component is « PhoenixDB », a bioinformatic tool consisting of a database that stores the reference library and complementary information relative to the genotypes and identification key's loci. An identification program allows the automatic comparison between the user genotypic information and the reference library. PhoenixDB is the first public database that centralizes genotypic data of the species Phoenix dactylifera, and is easily accessible by the scientific community through its web interface for genotype identification. This tool will be able to evolve and additional information will be added in the reference library to improve the characterization and conservation of date palm genetic resources.