Scientific achievement - a research team at Basra University achieves success in genetic transfer to date palms to produce a genetically modified palm plant. Aqil Hadi Abdel Wahed and Prof. Ahmed Madi Waheed and MD. Ahmed Zayer Resen from the transfer of the salinity-resistance gene SeNHX1 to date palm tissue through tissue culture in a modern technique represented by the use of the bioreactor system to multiply tissue and obtain resistant plants, and the success of the genetic transfer process was verified, according to A. Dr.. Aqil Hadi, through the use of two techniques, molecular technology and agricultural technology, as the molecular technology represented in the use of RCR and qPCR after building cDNA copies of the salt-resistant gene and monitoring the process of gene expression and showing its high levels, and Abdel Wahed added that the agricultural method is to grow plants on a highly concentrated saline medium and observe the activity of Plant tissue and its growth, as the strength of growth and the absence of change in color is evidence of the agricultural success of the plant tissue urging high salinity conditions, and adds Prof. Abdul Wahed, the recent winner of the Khalifa Award for Date Palm and Agricultural Innovation for the year 2021, said that genetic transfer of date palm is a challenge that the University of Basra has succeeded in and is the first of its kind in the Arab world and may be the first in the palm producing countries, because genetic transfer is fraught with many difficulties as date palm from Monocotyledons, in addition to tissue propagation itself, are beset with many difficulties. Combining the two is an achievement for the University of Basra that adds to its scientific achievements.
