Access To Plant Genetic Resources Research Articles

SPECIES DIVERSITY OF THE VIR COLLECTION OF GRAIN LEGUME GENETIC RESOURCES AND ITS USE IN DOMESTIC BREEDING

The world’s genebanks hold 7.5 million germplasm accessions of plant genetic resources (PGR). One of the qualitative characteristics of the PGR collections is the species diversity, in particular, the presence of crop wild relatives (CWR), which makes it possible to widen the use of gene pools in the breeding process. The collection of the Vavilov Institute (VIR) is one of the most diverse holdings in the number of plant species. A survey is provided here of the species diversity in VIR’s grain legume collection, and its use in domestic breeding practice is analyzed. Comparison of this diversity with the state of PGR exploitation in the world makes it possible to assess the prospects of more efficient utilization of gene pool potential, especially for species that are unjustifiably cultivated on a too small scale or even neglected as crops in this country. The VIR collection of grain legumes incorporates 196 species from 9 genera of the family Fabaceae. This number includes cultigens and CWR. The cultivars of 21 species of grain legumes listed in the State Register of Breeding Achievements (2018) are adapted to the soil and climate conditions of this country. However, the species diversity of the collection could be used more efficiently in domestic plant breeding and crop production. This concerns both underutilized crops in Russia (broad beans, lima beans and grass pea) and those whose adaptive potential is adjusted only to certain and limited areas of the Russian Federation (Tepary beans and Vigna spp.). It is also necessary to exploit more efficiently species of the wild flora, both for direct utilization as pastures, green manure or phytoremediation crops and for introgressive breeding and domestication (Vicia benghalensis L., V. narbonensis L., Lathyrus sylvestris L., Lupinus hartwegii Lindl., etc.). Incorporation of crop wild relatives into the breeding process is promising for crop improvement in a number of aspects: for example, to increase resistance to diseases, pests, abiotic stressors, etc.

Small-RNA analysis of pre-basic mother plants and conserved accessions of plant genetic resources for the presence of viruses

Pathogen-free stocks of vegetatively propagated plants are crucial in certified plant production. They require regular monitoring of the plant germplasm for pathogens, especially of the stocks maintained in the field. Here we tested pre-basic mother plants of Fragaria, Rubus and Ribes spp., and conserved accessions of the plant genetic resources of Rubus spp. maintained at research stations in Finland, for the presence of viruses using small interfering RNA (siRNA) -based diagnostics (VirusDetect). The advance of the method is that unrelated viruses can be detected simultaneously without resumptions of the viruses present. While no virus was detected in pre-basic mother plants of Fragaria and Ribes species, rubus yellow net virus (RYNV) was detected in pre-basic mother plants of Rubus. Raspberry bushy dwarf virus (RBDV), black raspberry necrosis virus (BRNV), raspberry vein chlorosis virus (RVCV) and RYNV were detected in the Rubus genetic resource collection. The L polymerase encoding sequence characterized from seven RVCV isolates showed considerable genetic variation. The data provide the first molecular biological evidence for the presence of RYNV in Finland. RYNV was not revealed in virus indexing by indicator plants, which suggests that it may be endogenously present in some raspberry cultivars. In addition, a putative new RYNV-like badnavirus was detected in Rubus spp. Blackcurrant reversion virus (BRV) and gooseberry vein banding associated virus (GVBaV) were detected in symptomatic Ribes plants grown in the field. Results were consistent with those obtained using PCR or reverse transcription PCR and suggest that the current virus indexing methods of pre-basic mother plants work as expected. Furthermore, many new viruses were identified in the collections of plant genetic resources not previously tested for viruses. In the future, siRNA-based diagnostics could be a useful supplement for the currently used virus detection methods in certified plant production and thus rationalize and simplify the current testing system.

Plant genetic resources of asparagus – maintenance, taxonomy and availability

Asparagus is a very important vegetable worldwide with increasing production area but low number of genetic resources in gene banks. Germplasm collections contain more than 7.4 million accessions of plant genetic resources. Wheat represents the biggest group (856,168 accessions) followed by rice and barley but only 1,284 samples of 63 Asparagus species are maintained. All the collections comprise wild and primitive forms, landraces as well as old and more recent cultivars of cultivated plants. The largest Asparagus collections are in France (INRA) with 710 samples followed by USDA-ARS (USA) with 157 samples of 29 species. The German ex situ gene bank is one of the ten largest global collections worldwide with 151,000 accessions. But only 34 Asparagus accessions are available. In general, one of the big problems is the taxonomy of the samples. E.g., the French material is not determined. The gene pool of asparagus is very well known but if the accessions are not taxonomically described, the use for breeding is very difficult. And many of the species are not existing in gene banks or only with a very few number of accessions. A gap analysis would be helpful in order to start collecting missions. Another topic is the availability. Due to international regulations like International Treaty of Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA) and Nagoya Protocol, the access to material is getting more and more complicated. But nevertheless, screening of such collections shows a wide range of variability and gives the opportunity to find new breeding material.

Indian plant germplasm on the global platter: an analysis.

Food security is a global concern amongst scientists, researchers and policy makers. No country is self-sufficient to address food security issues independently as almost all countries are inter-dependent for availability of plant genetic resources (PGR) in their national crop improvement programmes. Consultative Group of International Agricultural Research (CGIAR; in short CG) centres play an important role in conserving and distributing PGR through their genebanks. CG genebanks assembled the germplasm through collecting missions and acquisition the same from national genebanks of other countries. Using the Genesys Global Portal on Plant Genetic Resources, the World Information and Early Warning System (WIEWS) on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture and other relevant databases, we analysed the conservation status of Indian-origin PGR accessions (both cultivated and wild forms possessed by India) in CG genebanks and other national genebanks, including the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) genebanks, which can be considered as an indicator of Indian contribution to the global germplasm collection. A total of 28,027,770 accessions are being conserved world-wide by 446 organizations represented in Genesys; of these, 3.78% (100,607) are Indian-origin accessions. Similarly, 62,920 Indian-origin accessions (8.73%) have been conserved in CG genebanks which are accessible to the global research community for utilization in their respective crop improvement programmes. A total of 60 genebanks including 11 CG genebanks have deposited 824,625 accessions of PGR in the Svalbard Global Seed Vault (SGSV) as safety duplicates; the average number of accessions deposited by each genebank is 13,744, and amongst them there are 66,339 Indian-origin accessions. In principle, India has contributed 4.85 times the number of germplasm accessions to SGSV, in comparison to the mean value (13,744) of any individual genebank including CG genebanks. More importantly, about 50% of the Indian-origin accessions deposited in SGSV are traditional varieties or landraces with defined traits which form the backbone of any crop gene pool. This paper is also attempting to correlate the global data on Indian-origin germplasm with the national germplasm export profile. The analysis from this paper is discussed with the perspective of possible implications in the access and benefit sharing regime of both the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture and the newly enforced Nagoya Protocol under the Convention on Biological Diversity.

Impacts of the Nagoya Protocol on access to plant genetic resources and benefit sharing in China

《名古屋议定书》有望在2014年10月召开的《生物多样性公约》缔约方大会第12次会议前生效。《名古屋议定书》的生效将改变遗传资源及相关传统知识无序获取和无偿开发利用的局面，对不同的国家和地区会产生不同的影响。基于资料、数据库检索以及实地调研获得的数据，本文从植物遗传资源引种保存、专利申请和开发利用能力三个方面分析了中国遗传资源拥有量和开发利用能力，研究探讨了《名古屋议定书》对中国的可能影响。结果表明，中国遗传资源引出规模和潜在价值较大，引进种类中，品种占较大比例，且很多品种含有中国种质；发达国家在制药领域使用了大量中国的药用植物及其提取物，同时，国外机构和个人通过对中国植物的研究申请了大量专利。与此形成对照的是，在国内申请的专利和发表的成果中利用的来源于国外的植物种类较少。中国遗传资源丰富，但与发达国家相比，基础研究能力不强，在生物技术领域自主创新能力仍然欠缺，生物遗传资源整体开发利用能力与发达国家差距较大，而且缺乏针对遗传资源获取与惠益分享的政策与法规体系，总体上属于遗传资源提供国。为此，中国需要在国家和地方层面加强遗传资源获取与惠益分享的制度体系建设，同时加强基础研究和开发能力建设，提高执行《名古屋议定书》的能力。

Molecular markers in management of ex situ PGR – A case study

Worldwide germplasm collections contain about 7.4 million accessions of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture. One of the 10 largest ex situ genebanks of our globe is located at the Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research in Gatersleben, Germany. Molecular tools have been used for various gene bank management practices including characterization and utilization of the germplasm. The results on genetic integrity of longterm- stored gene bank accessions of wheat (self-pollinating) and rye (open-pollinating) cereal crops revealed a high degree of identity for wheat. In contrast, the out-pollinating accessions of rye exhibited shifts in allele frequencies. The genetic diversity of wheat and barley germplasm collected at intervals of 40 to 50 years in comparable geographical regions showed qualitative rather than a quantitative change in diversity. The inter- and intraspecific variation of seed longevity was analysed and differences were detected. Genetic studies in barley, wheat and oilseed rape revealed numerous QTL, indicating the complex and quantitative nature of seed longevity. Some of the loci identified were in genomic regions that co-localize with genes determining agronomic traits such as spike architecture or biotic and abiotic stress response. Finally, a genome-wide association mapping analysis of a core collection of wheat for flowering time was performed using diversity array technology (DArT) markers. Maker trait associations were detected in genomic regions where major genes or QTL have been described earlier. In addition, new loci were also detected, providing opportunities to monitor genetic variation for crop improvement.

Wheat genetic resources - how to exploit?

It is estimated that world-wide existing germplasm collections contain about 7.5 million accessions of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture. Wheat (Triticum and Aegilops) represents the biggest group comprising 900 000 accessions. However, such a huge number of accessions is hindering a successful exploitation of the germplasm. The creation of core collections representing a wide spectrum of the genetic variation of the whole assembly may help to overcome the problem. Here we demonstrate the successful utilisation of such a core collection for the identification and molecular mapping of genes (Quantitative Trait Loci) determining the agronomic traits flowering time and grain yield, exploiting a marker-trait-association based technique. Significant marker-trait associations were obtained and are presented. The intrachromosomal location of many of these associations coincided with those of already identified major genes or quantitative trait loci, but others were detected in regions where no known genes have been located to date.

Intellectual Property Rights on varieties and access to plant genetic resources: towards a coherent and an ethically based approach

AbstractThe concept of Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) is a very old one, dating as far back as Ancient Greek times. A specific system of IPRs for living organisms was adopted internationally for the first time, for plant varieties, in 1961, through the UPOV Convention. Progress in the field of biotechnology in the 1970s was the starting point for extensive debate on the patenting of living material among both the scientific community and in public fora, resulting in several independent international agreements which, in turn, contributed to the evolution of the Patent System for gene protection and of the statute of plant genetic resources. But, in their current state, the provisions of these various agreements are not globally coherent and, more particularly, conflict specifically with plant varieties and genetic resources. The questions could be solved by generalizing the cornerstone principle of the UPOV Convention, i.e. the free use of genetic variability, which seems to meet the demand of the scientific community.