This study contributes to understanding the whole process of somatic embryogenesis, but two specific questions remain to be answered: what factors are involved in the reactivation of the somatic cells at the beginning of the initial callogenesis, and why do the somatic embryos not accumulate proteins in their tissues during maturation?

This is the first report of a systematic study of genes expressed by means of expressed sequence tag (EST) analysis in oil palm, a species of the Arecales order, a phylogenetically key clade of monocotyledons that is not widely represented in the sequence databases. Five different cDNA libraries were generated from male and female inflorescences, shoot apices and zygotic embryos and unidirectional systematic sequencing was performed. A total of 2411 valid EST sequences were thus obtained. Cluster analysis enabled the identification of 209 groups of related sequences and 1874 singletons. Putative functions were assigned to 1252 of the set of 2083 non-redundant ESTs obtained. The EST database described here is a first step towards gene discovery and cDNA array-based expression analysis in oil palm.

While callogenesis in date palm can be initiated by culturing immature leaf segments on medium containing 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D), it is difficult to obtain callus from certain genotypes. To better understand the mechanisms of callogenesis in date palm, we studied the developmental events underlying this process at the cellular level. The callogenic capacity of leaf segments depends on the state of cell differentiation. The most callogenic segments were within the leaf elongation zone, required polar auxin transport to initiate callogenesis and contained the highest quantities of free endogenous indole-3-acetic acid. At the cellular level, callus induction involves two spatially and temporally separated events. The first event involves cells from the fascicular parenchyma in an equatorial plane perpendicular to the vascular axis that within 2 days of culture in the presence of 2,4-D, acquire structural and ultrastructural features typically observed in meristematic cells. The second event occurs 3 days later and is characterised by the modification of adjacent perivascular sheath cells. The latter cells become callogenic in that they reinitiated their cell cycles and undergo cell division leading to callus formation. These data provide evidence that callus initiation in leaf vascular tissue of date palm involves a sequential response of two distinct cell types to auxin and requires polar auxin transport.