Diversity Of Crop Wild Relatives Research Articles

Review of Crop Wild Relative Conservation and Use in West Asia and North Africa.

Ensuring global food security in the face of climate change is critical to human survival. With a predicted human population of 9.6 billion in 2050 and the demand for food supplies expected to increase by 60% globally, but with a parallel potential reduction in crop production for wheat by 6.0%, rice by 3.2%, maize by 7.4%, and soybean by 3.1% by the end of the century, maintaining future food security will be a challenge. One potential solution is new climate-smart varieties created using the breadth of diversity inherent in crop wild relatives (CWRs). Yet CWRs are threatened, with 16-35% regarded as threatened and a significantly higher percentage suffering genetic erosion. Additionally, they are under-conserved, 95% requiring additional ex situ collections and less than 1% being actively conserved in situ; they also often grow naturally in disturbed habitats limiting standard conservation measures. The urgent requirement for active CWR conservation is widely recognized in the global policy context (Convention on Biological Diversity post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework, UN Sustainable Development Goals, the FAO Second Global Plan of Action for PGRFA, and the FAO Framework for Action on Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture) and breeders highlight that the lack of CWR diversity is unnecessarily limiting crop improvement. CWRs are not spread evenly across the globe; they are focused in hotspots and the hottest region for CWR diversity is in West Asia and North Africa (WANA). The region has about 40% of global priority taxa and the top 17 countries with maximum numbers of CWR taxa per unit area are all in WANA. Therefore, improved CWR active conservation in WANA is not only a regional but a critical global priority. To assist in the achievement of this goal, we will review the following topics for CWRs in the WANA region: (1) conservation status, (2) community-based conservation, (3) threat status, (4) diversity use, (5) CURE-CWR hub: (ICARDA Centre of Excellence), and (6) recommendations for research priorities. The implementation of the recommendations is likely to significantly improve CWRs in situ and ex situ conservation and will potentially at least double the availability of the full breadth of CWR diversity found in WANA to breeders, and so enhance regional and global food and nutritional security.

Morphometric analysis of wild potato leaves

AbstractTo catalog and promote the conservation and use of crop wild relatives, comprehensive phenotypic and genotypic information must be available. Plant genotyping has the power to resolve the phylogenetic relationships between crop wild relatives, quantify genetic diversity, and identify marker-trait associations for expedited molecular breeding. However, access to cost-effective genotyping strategies is often limited in underutilized crops and crop wild relatives. Potato landraces and wild species, distributed throughout Central and South America, exhibit remarkable phenotypic diversity and are an invaluable source of resistance to pests and pathogens. Unfortunately, very limited information is available for these germplasm resources, particularly regarding phenotypic diversity and potential use as trait donors. In this work, more than 150 accessions corresponding to 12 species of wild and cultivated potatoes, collected from different sites across the American continent, were analyzed using computer vision and morphometric methods to evaluate leaf size and shape. In total, more than 1100 leaves and leaflets were processed and analyzed for nine traits related to size, shape, and color. The results produced in this study provided a visual depiction of the extensive variability among potato wild species and enabled a precise quantification of leaf phenotypic differences, including shape, color, area, perimeter, length, width, aspect ratio, convexity, and circularity. We also discussed the application and utility of inexpensive but comprehensive morphometric approaches to catalog and study the diversity of crop wild relatives. Finally, this study provided insights for further experimental research looking into the potential role of leaf size and shape variation in plant–insect interactions, agronomic productivity, and adaptation.

Replenishment of the VIR perennial forage crops collection with samples from a collecting mission in Tambov and Ryazan provinces in 2018

The purpose of the collecting mission was to replenish the collection of perennial forage crops with crop wild relatives (CWR) of interest for breeding purposes, as well as for the subsequent preservation of forage CWR diversity in natural populations. The mission was tasked to conduct a survey of the territory along the middle and lower Tsna river and collect seeds of wild perennial and annual forages. Coordinates of collecting sites were recorded and sites mapped together with the collecting mission route. Two districts of the Tambov and two districts of Ryazan provinces were explored. As a result, 93 seed samples were collected. Out of these, 47 samples were perennial forage grasses, 39 perennial and annual forage legumes, and 7 belonged to other families. The main part of legumes was represented by Medicago species (11 samples of Medicago falcata L., M. varia Mart., M. lupulina L.) and clover (11 samples of Trifolium hybridum L., T. incarnatum L., T. medium L., T. pratensis L., T. repens L.); among the grasses there were Bromopsis inermis (Leyss.) Holub, Poa angustifolia L., Dactylis glomerata L., and Phleum pratense L.

Phenotyping and identification of target traits for de novo domestication of wheat wild relatives

AbstractDe novo domestication—the modification of domestication genes in crop wild relatives via genome editing—is an approach for harnessing the beneficial genetic diversity of crop wild relatives. A prerequisite for de novo domestication is phenotyping to identify genetic materials suitable for cultivation in the respective environment. Taxa from the wheat genepool (Triticum aestivum, Triticum durum, Triticum monococcum) are a staple food; these taxa comprise wild relatives of different ploidy levels. The diploid Triticum boeoticum and Triticum urartu and the tetraploid Triticum dicoccoides and Triticum araraticum harbor desirable traits such as high grain quality and abiotic and biotic stress tolerance. Hence, they are candidates for de novo domestication. Here, we grew 111 wild wheats and 38 landraces originating predominantly from the Fertile Crescent and six modern wheat cultivars in a field in Giessen, Germany, to evaluate their environmental adaptability to the central European climate and to identify potential candidates and target traits for de novo domestication. We demonstrate that several wild taxa are suitable for cultivation in the central European environment and that they have distinct characteristics that need to be modified during de novo domestication. The normalized difference vegetation index and the thermal time to heading and flowering indicated excellent adaptability of some wheat wild relatives to central European conditions. The values of yield parameters such as grain weight per plant, number of tillers, and thousand kernel weight were lower in the wild wheats than in the landraces. Therefore, these traits should be targeted for improvement during the de novo domestication of wild wheats.

Conservation of crop wild relative diversity in Northeast Africa: Checklist and prioritization

AbstractCrop wild relatives (CWR) are an important source of genetic diversity useful for crop improvement. This study was conducted to create both a checklist and a priority inventory of CWR in Northeast Africa. A partial CWR regional checklist was obtained by combining the floras of Djibouti, Ethiopia and Eritrea, Somalia, South Sudan, and Sudan for priority crop genera. It includes 1020 taxa belonging to 39 families and 130 genera, and about 80% of these taxa are native. The families with the highest number of CWR were the Poaceae (334) and Fabaceae (202). The checklist was then prioritized based on the social and economic value of the related crops using the Food and Agriculture Organization Corporate Statistical Database and the potential use of CWR for crop improvement using the crop gene pool or taxon group concepts. These criteria were applied to the checklist via a serial method to generate a prioritized inventory of 97 CWR taxa belonging to 19 families and 44 genera. Forty‐three percent of these taxa occur in more than two countries and additionally 32% in Eritrea and Ethiopia, 18% in Sudan and South Sudan, and 7% in Somalia. For crop improvement, 20% of the taxa have confirmed uses, 23% have recorded potential uses, and 28% have both confirmed and potential uses. This prioritized list includes important CWR taxa related to regionally important food crops such as sorghum and teff, as well as providing a foundation for further conservation studies by conservationists and breeders in this region and worldwide.

Insights into the Transcriptomics of Crop Wild Relatives to Unravel the Salinity Stress Adaptive Mechanisms.

The narrow genomic diversity of modern cultivars is a major bottleneck for enhancing the crop's salinity stress tolerance. The close relatives of modern cultivated plants, crop wild relatives (CWRs), can be a promising and sustainable resource to broaden the diversity of crops. Advances in transcriptomic technologies have revealed the untapped genetic diversity of CWRs that represents a practical gene pool for improving the plant's adaptability to salt stress. Thus, the present study emphasizes the transcriptomics of CWRs for salinity stress tolerance. In this review, the impacts of salt stress on the plant's physiological processes and development are overviewed, and the transcription factors (TFs) regulation of salinity stress tolerance is investigated. In addition to the molecular regulation, a brief discussion on the phytomorphological adaptation of plants under saline environments is provided. The study further highlights the availability and use of transcriptomic resources of CWR and their contribution to pangenome construction. Moreover, the utilization of CWRs' genetic resources in the molecular breeding of crops for salinity stress tolerance is explored. Several studies have shown that cytoplasmic components such as calcium and kinases, and ion transporter genes such as Salt Overly Sensitive 1 (SOS1) and High-affinity Potassium Transporters (HKTs) are involved in the signaling of salt stress, and in mediating the distribution of excess Na+ ions within the plant cells. Recent comparative analyses of transcriptomic profiling through RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq) between the crops and their wild relatives have unraveled several TFs, stress-responsive genes, and regulatory proteins for generating salinity stress tolerance. This review specifies that the use of CWRs transcriptomics in combination with modern breeding experimental approaches such as genomic editing, de novo domestication, and speed breeding can accelerate the CWRs utilization in the breeding programs for enhancing the crop's adaptability to saline conditions. The transcriptomic approaches optimize the crop genomes with the accumulation of favorable alleles that will be indispensable for designing salt-resilient crops.

Endemic crop wild relatives in Chile towards the end of the 21st century: Protected areas and agricultural expansion

AbstractClimate change is expected to change weather patterns in Chile significantly. Preserving the taxonomic and genetic diversity of crop wild relatives (CWR) is critical to ensure the availability of crops for future human food. However, many CWR are threatened in their natural habitats and underrepresented in gene banks. This research aimed to analyze the current and future climatic suitability under climate change of Chilean endemic CWR, the role of protected areas in their conservation, and possible conflicts of land use with agricultural production. The climatic suitability of 30 species was modeled with present and future bioclimatic variables using a species distribution modeling approach. The climatically suitable areas of all endemic CWR species analyzed are projected to change; 26 increased their suitable areas in the future and four decreased (Ribes integrifolium Phil., Dioscorea fastigiata Gay, Solanum chilense (Dunal) Reiche, Lupinus oreophilus Phil.). Specific conflict with agricultural land use is projected to occur between Valparaiso and Biobio regions, where zones not in protected areas with more than 15 CWR species intersect with those that will be more suitable to produce food crops. Careful and informed planning is required to protect the future distribution of endemic CWR in Chile, especially for species whose climatically suitable area decreases. This effort should comprise a coordinated approach that includes both in situ and ex situ conservation strategies to preserve genetic diversity.

Comparing species and evolutionary diversity metrics to inform conservation

AbstractPhylogenetic diversity (PD) is an important measure for identifying areas of conservation. Phylogenetic diversity is a robust biodiversity metric because it accounts for the relationships among species, and not just the number of species. For this reason, it is an essential element for conservation planning. Unfortunately, PD metrics are not used by many for conservation planning. In the case of Colombia, which is rich in crop and wild plant biodiversity, lacks information on genetic resources of Crop Wild Relatives (CWR). Due to deforestation and agriculture expansion, the habitat, where these crop wild relatives grow, is being reduced at an alarming rate and could be destroyed altogether. This study focuses on crop wild relatives in Colombia, comparing species diversity versus PD‐based metrics to show the advantages of using evolutionary information for conservation planning. We identified new areas with high PD and endemism among CWR diversity which are important to establishing comprehensive conservation strategies.

The primal garden: Tajikistan as a biodiversity hotspot of food crop wild relatives

Despite being located within a primary region of crop diversity, documentation of Tajik crop and crop wild relative (CWR) resources is far from comprehensive, particularly regarding CWR. Here, we compile the first inventory of food CWR of Tajikistan. A total of 549 food CWR taxa belonging to 36 families and 125 genera were documented as occurring in the country. Among them, 71 taxa were recognized as native close relatives of globally important crops (category 1A), 67 as native distant relatives of these crops (1B) and 411 as native taxa with an undetermined relationship to these crops (1C). This documented CWR diversity far exceeds previous scientific assessments for the country and, in doing so, distinguishes the Tajik region from surrounding countries. Within the country, the results indicate a clear gradient of food CWR taxonomic richness from the eastern part of the country (least diversity) to the western part (greatest diversity). This trend adds important new information to the body of literature published by N. I. Vavilov and others, who mainly stressed the importance of the Pamir region (Eastern Tajikistan) for crop and CWR diversity.

Planning complementary conservation of crop wild relative diversity in southern Africa

AbstractAimTo identify priority areas for in situ conservation and collection of germplasm for ex situ backup of crop wild relative (CWR) diversity in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region as part of an action plan for the conservation and use of the region's important CWR diversity.LocationSADC region.MethodsDiversity, gap and climate change analyses at species and ecogeographic diversity levels were undertaken for 113 regional priority CWR taxa.ResultsCWR hotspots were identified in Eswatini (former Swaziland), Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania and Zimbabwe. Twenty‐one per cent of regionally priority CWR occur exclusively outside existing protected areas (PAs), 50% are not conserved ex situ, and 64% are predicted to be negatively impacted by climate change. A total of 120 existing PAs in 13 countries were identified as containing populations likely to persist in the future for 80% of CWR taxa and about 50% of the ecogeographic diversity of these taxa; remaining diversity can be conserved in an additional 151 complementary sites in 11 countries. Democratic Republic of the Congo, Madagascar, South Africa and Tanzania contain important areas for conserving CWR diversity in situ in which no negative climate change impact is predicted. Priority CWR diversity in the provinces of Bas‐Congo (Democratic Republic of the Congo) and Cabinda (Angola) is threatened by climate change and should be collected urgently for ex situ conservation. Other areas rich in ecogeographic diversity that is not conserved ex situ are located in Angola, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eswatini, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania and Zimbabwe.Main conclusionsWe identified 120 PAs and 151 complementary sites outside of PAs in 13 SADC countries that could form the basis of the SADC Network for In Situ Conservation of CWR. We also selected priority areas for filling gaps in ex situ collections and for field survey.

Supporting in situ conservation of the genetic diversity of crop wild relatives using genomic technologies.

The last decade has witnessed huge technological advances in genomics, particularly in DNA sequencing. Here, we review the actual and potential application of genomics in supporting in situ conservation of crop wild relatives (CWRs). In addition to helping in prioritization of protection of CWR taxa and in situ conservation sites, genome analysis is allowing the identification of novel alleles that need to be prioritized for conservation. Genomics is enabling the identification of potential sources of important adaptive traits that can guide the establishment or enrichment of in situ genetic reserves. Genomic tools also have the potential for developing a robust framework for monitoring and reporting genome‐based indicators of genetic diversity changes associated with factors such as land use or climate change. These tools have been demonstrated to have an important role in managing the conservation of populations, supporting sustainable access and utilization of CWR diversity, enhancing accelerated domestication of new crops and forensic genomics thus preventing misappropriation of genetic resources. Despite this great potential, many policy makers and conservation managers have failed to recognize and appreciate the need to accelerate the application of genomics to support the conservation and management of biodiversity in CWRs to underpin global food security. Funding and inadequate genomic expertise among conservation practitioners also remain major hindrances to the widespread application of genomics in conservation.

A prioritised inventory of crop wild relatives and wild harvested plants of Tunisia

An inventory of crop wild relatives (CWR) and wild harvested plants (WHP) occurring in Tunisia, based on the integration of the last available floristic checklists, is presented. The taxa were prioritised according to economic value of the related crop, potential for crop improvement, threat status, endemism, inclusion in the ITPGRFA (Annex I) and average annual contributions to dietary energy (kilocalories) per capita per day by applying a scoring system based on 4 priority levels. Of a total of 2912 taxa belonging to the Tunisian Flora, 2504 CWR and/or WHP (86% of the total), from 143 families and 686 genera, were identified, 2445 of which are CWR and 847 are WHP. In detail, 1654 are solely CWR and 59 are WHP only, whereas 788 are both CWR and WHP. The final priority list for active conservation includes 1036 CWR (43% of the total CWR taxa), with 139 taxa rated as high priority, 660 medium priority and 237 low priority. The final priority list for WHP is composed of 344 taxa and includes eight high priority, 254 medium priority and 82 low priority taxa. Our results confirm Tunisia as a hotspot of CWR and WHP diversity in the Mediterranean area. The inventory here proposed provides the basis for the development and implementation of a more targeted national CWR/WHP conservation strategy for Tunisia.

Congruence between global crop wild relative hotspots and biodiversity hotspots

Biodiversity is currently experiencing exceptional loss due to the activities of humans, negatively impacting the ecosystem services on which humanity relies. Additionally, human induced climate change is already negatively impacting agriculture worldwide – a trend that will only worsen - leading to reduced yields for some crops and regions. Crop wild relatives (CWR) the wild cousins of domesticated crops, contain a wide breadth of genetic diversity not found in cultivated crops, which can be used for breeding new climate tolerant varieties. However, CWR are under-conserved in the wild, thus jeopardising this resource. Funds for CWR conservation activities are often limited; to conserve efficiently therefore, conservation strategies could prioritise in situ actions in areas of existing biodiversity conservation or protection, so long as CWR diversity overlaps with other components of biodiversity (i.e., other taxa). This analysis examines whether CWR could benefit from being conserved in biodiversity hotspots. Global CWR hotspots were defined from statistically significant spatial clustering of areas of high CWR richness. Biodiversity hotspots had significant overlap with CWR hotspots with the highest coincidence in the Mediterranean basin (91%) and the California Floristic Province (91%). Overall, the Mediterranean basin, Irano-Anatolian, Caucasus and Tropical Andes hotspots showed greatest promise for in situ conservation of CWR, and hence greater efficiency of conservation investments.

Modelling potential range expansion of an underutilised food security crop in Sub-Saharan Africa

Despite substantial growth in global agricultural production, food and nutritional insecurity is rising in Sub-Saharan Africa. Identification of underutilised indigenous crops with useful food security traits may provide part of the solution. Enset (Ensete ventricosum) is a perennial banana relative with cultivation restricted to southwestern Ethiopia, where high productivity and harvest flexibility enables it to provide a starch staple for ∼20 million people. An extensive wild distribution suggests that a much larger region may be climatically suitable for cultivation. Here we use ensemble ecological niche modelling to predict the potential range for enset cultivation within southern and eastern Africa. We find contemporary bioclimatic suitability for a 12-fold range expansion, equating to 21.9% of crop land and 28.4% of the population in the region. Integration of crop wild relative diversity, which has broader climate tolerance, could enable a 19-fold expansion, particularly to dryer and warmer regions. Whilst climate change may cause a 37%–52% reduction in potential range by 2070, large centres of suitability remain in the Ethiopian Highlands, Lake Victoria region and the Drakensberg Range. We combine our bioclimatic assessment with socioeconomic data to identify priority areas with high population density, seasonal food deficits and predominantly small-scale subsistence agriculture, where integrating enset may be particularly feasible and deliver climate resilience. When incorporating the genetic potential of wild populations, enset cultivation might prove feasible for an additional 87.2–111.5 million people, 27.7–33 million of which are in Ethiopia outside of enset’s current cultivation range. Finally, we consider explanations why enset cultivation has not expanded historically, and ethical implications of expanding previously underutilised species.

Prioritising crop wild relatives to enhance agricultural resilience in sub‐Saharan Africa under climate change

Social Impact StatementClimate change is expected to disproportionately affect sub‐Saharan Africa in the next century, posing a threat to the livelihoods of smallholder farmers and deepening food insecurity. To adapt to this threat, more climate‐resilient crops need to be brought into the food system; these may be developed through breeding with crop wild relatives with key traits to cope with climate change. Here, we assess the level of open‐access trait documentation of crop wild relatives of 29 important crops, their resilience, how threatened they are in situ, how well they are preserved ex situ and we provide priorities for their conservation and use in breeding programmes.Summary Climate change is projected to adversely affect smallholder agriculture in sub‐Saharan Africa (SSA) over the next century, with many areas becoming unsuitable for growing crops. Breeding programmes using crop wild relatives (CWRs) that are pre‐adapted to projected future climatic conditions may lead to more resilient crops, but their traits have not been screened across a large diversity of CWRs. Furthermore, many are threatened and require greater protection in situ and ex situ to prevent the loss of an important adaptive solution to climate change. A previous ecogeographical study found that 303 out of 836 CWRs of 29 major crops cultivated across SSA may represent priorities for future crop resilience. Here, we assessed the availability of trait information and compared traits between resilient and non‐resilient CWRs. Subsequently, we analysed the conservation status of CWRs in situ and ex situ to set new global priorities for protection. Our findings show that the traits of many CWRs are poorly described, but for those species with better coverage, key differences between resilient and non‐resilient CWRs were identified, including lower plant height amongst resilient CWRs of tree crops (arabica and robusta coffee, mango and cacao) and a higher likelihood of invasive CWRs to be resilient. We found that 14% and 36% of resilient CWRs are threatened in situ and absent from seed collections, respectively. Our study highlights CWR priorities for conservation based on resilience. A concerted international effort is recommended to conserve CWRs and improve agricultural resilience in a changing climate.

De-novo Domestication for Improving Salt Tolerance in Crops.

Global agriculture production is under serious threat from rapidly increasing population and adverse climate changes. Food security is currently a huge challenge to feed 10 billion people by 2050. Crop domestication through conventional approaches is not good enough to meet the food demands and unable to fast-track the crop yields. Also, intensive breeding and rigorous selection of superior traits causes genetic erosion and eliminates stress-responsive genes, which makes crops more prone to abiotic stresses. Salt stress is one of the most prevailing abiotic stresses that poses severe damages to crop yield around the globe. Recent innovations in state-of-the-art genomics and transcriptomics technologies have paved the way to develop salinity tolerant crops. De novo domestication is one of the promising strategies to produce superior new crop genotypes through exploiting the genetic diversity of crop wild relatives (CWRs). Next-generation sequencing (NGS) technologies open new avenues to identifying the unique salt-tolerant genes from the CWRs. It has also led to the assembly of highly annotated crop pan-genomes to snapshot the full landscape of genetic diversity and recapture the huge gene repertoire of a species. The identification of novel genes alongside the emergence of cutting-edge genome editing tools for targeted manipulation renders de novo domestication a way forward for developing salt-tolerance crops. However, some risk associated with gene-edited crops causes hurdles for its adoption worldwide. Halophytes-led breeding for salinity tolerance provides an alternative strategy to identify extremely salt tolerant varieties that can be used to develop new crops to mitigate salinity stress.

Extinction risk of Mesoamerican crop wild relatives

Societal Impact StatementCrop wild relatives (CWR) are plant taxa closely related to crops and are a source of high genetic diversity that can help adapt crops to the impacts of global change, particularly to meet increasing consumer demand in the face of the climate crisis. CWR provide vital ecosystem services and are increasingly important for food and nutrition security and sustainable and resilient agriculture. They therefore are of major biological, social, cultural and economic importance. Assessing the extinction risk of CWR is essential to prioritise in situ and ex situ conservation strategies in Mesoamerica to guarantee the long‐term survival and availability of these resources for present and future generations worldwide.Summary Ensuring food security is one of the world's most critical issues as agricultural systems are already being impacted by global change. Crop wild relatives (CWR)—wild plants related to crops—possess genetic variability that can help adapt agriculture to a changing environment and sustainably increase crop yields to meet the food security challenge. Here we report the results of an extinction risk assessment of 224 wild relatives of some of the world's most important crops (i.e. chilli pepper, maize, common bean, avocado, cotton, potato, squash, vanilla and husk tomato) in Mesoamerica—an area of global significance as a centre of crop origin, domestication and of high CWR diversity. We show that 35% of the selected CWR taxa are threatened with extinction according to The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List demonstrates that these valuable genetic resources are under high anthropogenic threat. The dominant threat processes are land use change for agriculture and farming, invasive and other problematic species (e.g. pests, genetically modified organisms) and use of biological resources, including overcollection and logging. The most significant drivers of extinction relate to smallholder agriculture—given its high incidence and ongoing shifts from traditional agriculture to modern practices (e.g. use of herbicides)—smallholder ranching and housing and urban development and introduced genetic material. There is an urgent need to increase knowledge and research around different aspects of CWR. Policies that support in situ and ex situ conservation of CWR and promote sustainable agriculture are pivotal to secure these resources for the benefit of current and future generations.

Gap analyses of priority wild relatives of food crop in current ex situ and in situ conservation in Indonesia

Conservation programmes are always limited by available resources. Careful planning is therefore required to increase the efficiency of conservation and gap analysis can be used for this purpose. This method was used to assess the representativeness of current ex situ and in situ conservation actions of 234 priority crop wild relatives (CWR) in Indonesia. This analysis also included species distribution modelling, the creation of an ecogeographical land characterization map, and a complementarity analysis to identify priorities area for in situ conservation and for further collecting of ex situ conservation programmes. The results show that both current ex situ and in situ conservation actions are insufficient. Sixty-six percent of priority CWRs have no recorded ex situ collections. Eighty CWRs with ex situ collections are still under-represented in the national genebanks and 65 CWRs have no presence records within the existing protected area network although 60 are predicted to exist in several protected areas according to their potential distribution models. The complementarity analysis shows that a minimum of 61 complementary grid areas (complementary based on grid cells) are required to conserve all priority taxa and 40 complementary protected areas (complementary based on existing protected areas) are required to conserve those with known populations within the existing in situ protected area network. The top ten of complementary protected areas are proposed as the initial areas for the development of CWR genetic reserves network in Indonesia. It is recommended to enhanced coordination between ex situ and in situ conservation stakeholders for sustaining the long term conservation of CWR in Indonesia. Implementation of the research recommendations will provide for the first time an effective conservation planning of Indonesia’s CWR diversity and will significantly enhance the country’s food and nutritional security.

Genetic diversity and structure of Musa balbisiana populations in Vietnam and its implications for the conservation of banana crop wild relatives.

Crop wild relatives (CWR) are an indispensable source of alleles to improve desired traits in related crops. While knowledge on the genetic diversity of CWR can facilitate breeding and conservation strategies, it has poorly been assessed. Cultivated bananas are a major part of the diet and income of hundreds of millions of people and can be considered as one of the most important fruits worldwide. Here, we assessed the genetic diversity and structure of Musa balbisiana, an important CWR of plantains, dessert and cooking bananas. Musa balbisiana has its origin in subtropical and tropical broadleaf forests of northern Indo-Burma. This includes a large part of northern Vietnam where until now, no populations have been sampled. We screened the genetic variation and structure present within and between 17 Vietnamese populations and six from China using 18 polymorphic SSR markers. Relatively high variation was found in populations from China and central Vietnam. Populations from northern Vietnam showed varying levels of genetic variation, with low variation in populations near the Red River. Low genetic variation was found in populations of southern Vietnam. Analyses of population structure revealed that populations of northern Vietnam formed a distinct genetic cluster from populations sampled in China. Together with populations of central Vietnam, populations from northern Vietnam could be subdivided into five clusters, likely caused by mountain ranges and connected river systems. We propose that populations sampled in central Vietnam and on the western side of the Hoang Lien Son mountain range in northern Vietnam belong to the native distribution area and should be prioritised for conservation. Southern range edge populations in central Vietnam had especially high genetic diversity, with a high number of unique alleles and might be connected with core populations in northern Laos and southwest China. Southern Vietnamese populations are considered imported and not native.

Treasuring crop wild relative diversity: analysis of success from the seed collecting phase of the ‘Adapting Agriculture to Climate Change’ project

Treasuring crop wild relative diversity: analysis of success from the seed collecting phase of the ‘Adapting Agriculture to Climate Change’ project