GENETIC VARIATION IN THE STEAROYL-ACYLCARRIER- PROTEIN DESATURASE (SAD) GENE AMONG AFRICAN AND AMERICAN OIL PALM SPECIES AND THEIR HYBRIDS

Stearoyl-acyl-carrier-protein desaturase (SAD) is crucial for oleic acid biosynthesis in oil palms.Reports show that American oil palm species (Elaeis oleifera) have higher oleic acid concentrations than African species (Elaeis guineensis).However, the impact of the SAD nucleotide sequence variation in various SAD gene structures on oleic acid biosynthesis remains unclear.This study aims to identify the SAD nucleotide sequence variations in diverse oil palm accessions as a basis for oleic acid biosynthesis research.Various SNP loci are identified in the SAD gene nucleotide sequences of five oil palms belonging to two species, E. oleifera and E. guineensis (i.e., Dura, Pisifera and Tenera types and accessions having the Virescens characteristic) and the E. oleifera -E.guineensis hybrids (the OG hybrid).The identified SNPs were used to design the Single Nucleotide Amplified Polymorphism (SNAP) primer sets and evaluated using genetically diverse 50 oil palm accessions.This study identified 15 SNPs in the SAD gene, five in intron, eight in exon and two loci in 3' UTR region.These SNP markers provide valuable insights into genetic diversity and offer promising further study to validate these markers using a larger breeding population with a specific target for oleic acid content.