The doctoral dissertation, submitted to the College of Agriculture at the University of Basra, investigated "The Use of Modern Technologies to Study the Genetic and Biochemical Characteristics of Some Date Palm Varieties Produced Through Tissue Culture and Vegetative Propagation." The dissertation, authored by researcher Hamza Abdul Zahra Mohammed, aimed to conduct a comprehensive study using genetic engineering techniques to identify genetic diversity between date palm varieties propagated through tissue culture and those propagated vegetatively via suckers, as well as to study their biochemical and anatomical characteristics. The dissertation included a study of genetic diversity using SSR and ISSR markers, in addition to sequencing the rbcl gene in the studied varieties. The study concluded that the tissue-cultured date palm varieties were 99% identical to the vegetatively propagated varieties.  It also recommended the use of molecular, biochemical, and anatomical studies as taxonomic tools for plants in general, and date palms in particular.  Furthermore, the study identified new gene sequences, contributing valuable genetic information to the date palm genome database.

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