International Genebanks Research Articles

Safeguarding a global seed heritage from Syria to Svalbard.

Crop diversity underpins food security and adaptation to climate change. Concerted conservation efforts are needed to maintain and make this diversity available to plant scientists, breeders and farmers. Here we present the story of the rescue and reconstitution of the unique seed collection held in the international genebank of International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) in Syria. Being among the first depositors to the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, ICARDA managed to safety duplicate more than 80% of its collection before the last staff had to leave the genebank in 2014 because of the war. Based on the safety duplicates, ICARDA since 2015 have rebuilt their collections and resumed distribution of seeds to users internationally from their new premises in Morocco and Lebanon. We describe the multifaceted and layered structure of the global system for the conservation and use of crop diversity that enabled this successful outcome. Genebanks do not work alone but in an increasingly strengthened and experienced multilateral system of governance, science, financial support and collaboration. This system underpins efforts to build sustainable and socially equitable agri-food systems.

Advanced Strategic Research to Promote the Use of Rice Genetic Resources

International genebanks have a collection of over 760 K conserved accessions of various plants, most of these accessions are within the multi-lateral system governed by the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA). However, in spite of the success in collection and conservation, only a small portion of the genetic diversity has been used in crop breeding programs. As climate change-induced new or enhanced constraints seriously hamper crop productions, researchers and breeders should be able to swiftly choose an appropriate set of genetic resources from the genebank and use them for improving crop varieties. Here, we present some advanced technologies that can effectively promote the use of diverse rice accessions held at national/international genebanks. High throughput phenotyping using multispectral imaging systems and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) can quickly screen large numbers of accessions for various useful traits. Such data, when combined with that from the digital rice genebank consisting of genome sequencing data, will significantly increase the efficiency in breeding efforts. Recent genome sequencing data of the rice wild species will also add to the resources available for pre-breeding efforts such as the introgression of useful genes into modern rice varieties. We expect that these advanced technologies and strategies developed through the global rice research programs will be applicable for many closely related species as well.

Recent Progress in Germplasm Evaluation and Gene Mapping to Enable Breeding of Drought-Tolerant Wheat.

There is a need to increase wheat productivity to meet the food demands of the ever-growing human population. However, accelerated development of high yielding varieties is hindered by drought, which is worsening due to climate change. In this context, germplasm diversity is central to the development of drought-tolerant wheat. Extensive collections of these genetic resources are conserved in national and international genebanks. In addition to phenotypic assessments, the use of advanced molecular techniques (e.g., genotype by sequencing) to identify quantitative trait loci (QTLs) for drought tolerance related traits is useful for genome- and marker-assisted selection based approaches. Therefore, to assist wheat breeders at a critical time, we searched the recent peer-reviewed literature (2011-current), first, to identify wheat germplasm observed to be useful genetic sources for drought tolerance, and second, to report QTLs associated with drought tolerance. Though many breeders limit the parents used in breeding programs to a familiar core collection, the results of this review show that larger germplasm collections have been sources of useful genes for drought tolerance in wheat. The review also demonstrates that QTLs for drought tolerance in wheat are associated with diverse physio-morphological traits, at different growth stages. Here, we also briefly discuss the potential of genome engineering/editing to improve drought tolerance in wheat. The use of CRISPR-Cas9 and other gene-editing technologies can be used to fine-tune the expression of genes controlling drought adaptive traits, while high throughput phenotyping (HTP) techniques can potentially accelerate the selection process. These efforts are empowered by wheat researcher consortia.

Conservation of plant diversity for future

Planet earth has been entrusted with plethora of diverse plant wealth. About 80, 000 species of plants have been used since human civilization for various purposes, like food, fodder, shelter and most importantly for me dicinal use to cure ailments. Of these, 30, 000 species have been identified as edible and about 7, 000 species have been cultivated and/or collected for food time to time. However, presently only 30 crops are reported to feed the world. Wheat, rice, maize, sorghum, millet, potato, sweet potato, soybean, sugarcane and sugarbeet are the 10 crops which provide 75% of the total plant-based calorie intake. Of these three crops are the most important, namely, what, rice and maize. Besides, region based-underutilized crops, species and crop wild relatives play an important role towards the food security and income generation. Globally, many species have been lost due to habitat destruction and/or over exploitation. Immense wealth and diversity of plants is under the threat of loss due to changing climate along with several the biotic or abiotic stresses. A lot of efforts have been put in world-wide to conserve the diversity of plants and plant genetic resources using various strategies and approaches. In situ and ex situ conservation methods have been practiced for conserving the diversity. Germplasm in various forms are being conserved in various national and international genebanks. India has world's second largest national Genebank at Indian Council of Agricultural Research-National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources, New Delhi, that has state of art facilities including Seed Genebank (∼4 lakh accessions), In vitro Genebank (∼1, 800 accessions) and Cryo Genebank (∼13, 000 accessions). Although, the conservation of plant diversity is important but the utilization of conserved plant diversity may play major role to save them for future. This review paper will present an overview of various aspects of conservation of plant diversity.

Characterization of rice (Oryza sativa L.) germplasm in Nepal : A mini review

This article reviewed on general overview of characterization of rice germplasm in Nepal. Nepal is one of the centers known for the diversity for rice. A total of 8389 rice accessions from Nepal were conserved in different national and international gene banks. Germplasm collection is important for the maintenance of biological diversity and food security. About 2500 rice accessions were characterized by agro-morphological traits, biochemical and DNA markers by NARC and other organizations, but other remaining germplasm were not characterized yet all. All the germplasm were needed to characterize agro-morphologically, biochemically and molecular level because these are the source of valuable genes; which is important tool of crop improvement. Isoenzymes and SSR molecular analysis technique were used to characterize biochemical and molecular properties of rice germplasm. Molecular and biochemical characterizations of rice germplasm were very limited because of physical facilities which were not available for the systematic evaluation of the germplasm for biochemical and genetic finger printing. Nepal was dependent about 95 to 100% on foreign germplasm for varietal development. A systematic study was conducted to characterize all the rice accessions agro-physiologically and moelcular level to identified valuable gene and used in crop improvement program. Studies showed that farmers conserved the landraces at farm level now gene bank, DNA bank and field bank involved in germplasm conservation. Research on rice germplasm characterization is being conducted at research and academic institution in Nepal.

МЕЖДУНАРОДНОЕ СОТРУДНИЧЕСТВО ВИР КАК ВАЖНЫЙ ФАКТОР ПОПОЛНЕНИЯ КОЛЛЕКЦИИ ГЕНЕТИЧЕСКИХ РЕСУРСОВ ЗЕРНОБОБОВЫХ КУЛЬТУР

The percentage of foreign material in the VIR collection of grain legumes varies from 42% (vetch) to 96-97% (cowpea, chickpea). For most crops, this indicator is between 75-86%. It depends either on the agroclimatic needs of the crops reflecting the areas of their cultivation and growth over the world or on their centers of origin as well as on the scale of their production and breeding in different countries. The main way of receiving new crop material from abroad is VIR's international cooperation which was initiated by N. I. Vavilov. Since then, interaction of the Institute with foreign partners has not lost its relevance and traditions. The sources of foreign material are international collecting expeditions, the exchange of scientists, requests for germplasm to international genebanks, national botanical gardens, breeding organizations, specialized research institutions and universities. The most important tool for obtaining foreign material was and still is the exchange of germplasm samples. This article provides an overview of the ways by which foreign material has entered the VIR collection of grain legumes over the last 20 years. During this period, the total of 7552 foreign accessions has been added to the collection, which makes 16% of its overall volume. The main sources of such material are international genebanks and national centers working with plant genetic resources. For the collections containing crop wild relatives (CWR), botanical gardens remain important suppliers of material. The main partner countries that have participated in mutually beneficial partnerships and germplasm exchange with VIR are Syria, China, the USA, Canada, Ukraine, Belarus, France, and Australia. International expeditions have been and remain a fruitful source of local varieties and CWR. Of undoubted interest, along with the modern and local varieties coming from abroad, are wild species of such crops as soybean, chickpea and lentil whose areas of distribution lie beyond the borders of this country. Such species are promising for introgressive breeding. The study of new foreign accessions within VIR's network made it possible to identify sources of economically valuable traits for the main trends of crop breeding.

Crop Science Society of America Celebrates First Annual Crop Wild Relative Week, September 22–29, 2018

Crop Science Society of America Celebrates First Annual Crop Wild Relative Week, September 22–29, 2018

Detection of myostatin gene MSTN in some goat breeds (Capra hircus).

Till now not information about myostatin MSTN gene in Egyptian goat breeds. Here we show more information about MSTN in some Egyptian goat breeds to enrich the database with new sequences for Egyptian goat breeds. Our conducted study focused on detection and identifying the MSTN gene as a candidate gene of the muscles growth trait in three goat breeds (Zaraibi, Baladi and Damascus). We found the similarity between the registered sequences with the accession numbers KY463684 for Zaraibi and KY463685 for Baladi and Chinese goat breeds of the MSTN gene deposited with international gene banks by up to 99% and some other species including sheep, cows and bull breeds with percentages of 95 to 97% and between 95 to 99%, respectively. There is also a correlation between the sequences of the registered pieces of Baladi with KY463686 and Damascus and Chinese breeds with KY441464 of MSTN deposited with international gene banks by up to 99% and some other species including sheep and bull breeds at a ratio of 99% for two pieces. Results demonstrated the deposited sequences of object are part of intron 1, exon 2 is fully sequenced with Zaraibi and Baladi breeds; the intron 1, exon 1 with Baladi breed; and the intron 2, part of exon 3 with Damascus breed. Therefore, the Egyptian goat breeds consider national wealth can be used to develop breeding and improvement programs which helps in more applicable scopes like biotechnology, genetic engineering and molecular biology with the help of bioinformatics tools.

Access to genes: linkages between genebanks and farmers’ seed systems

Genebanks conserve key resources for handling current and future challenges to food production and security. The role of genebanks has evolved from primarily serving plant breeders to include long-term biodiversity conservation and distribution to a wider user community. International policy frameworks stress the complementarity of ex situ and in situ conservation and management, but a dichotomy prevails in the public and scholarly agricultural development discourse. Here, we present a study of existing linkages between the two conservation and management approaches, their challenges and future options. First, we show that farmers, farmer organizations, and NGOs now comprise a considerable user group of genebank material, receiving at least 8% of the seed samples distributed from international genebanks in 2015, on par with the proportion distributed to the commercial seed sector. Second, we map and categorize approaches to introduce genebank material into farmers’ seed systems. Based on a survey, interviews and a literature review we categorize direct genebank-farmer linkages into six categories: (1) Reintroduction, (2) Emergency Seed Interventions, (3) Community Seed Banks, (4) Participatory Plant Breeding, (5) Variety Introduction, and (6) Integrative Seed System Approaches. We investigate the merits of these approaches as alternative and complementary pathways for enhancing farmers’ access to crop diversity. Finally, we discuss challenges related to scale, sustainability and legal frame conditions and point out opportunities to realize synergies to achieve the ultimate goal of the ex situ conservation agenda and the farmers’ rights agenda, namely to strengthen farmers’ access to suitable seeds.

Genetic variation and combining abilities for vigour and yield in a recurrent selection programme for cacao

SUMMARYThe low genetic diversity of cacao germplasm collections in West Africa is often cited as a limitation to further yield improvement of the crop in its major production countries. Twelve clones obtained from first cycle selection for yield and clones available in international genebanks were tested for their combining ability for key agronomic traits by using these as males in crosses with five female clones available in the Seed Gardens in Ghana. Progenies obtained from a North Carolina II (NC II) mating design and standard varieties were planted at two sites that contrast in terms of soil fertility, rainfall total and distribution. Fifty-eight progenies obtained from the 5 × 12 incomplete NC II mating design and six other progenies, of which two were standard varieties, were evaluated at the more favourable location. At the less favourable location, 44 progenies of the NC II mating design and 20 other progenies, including the two standard varieties, were planted. A randomized complete block design with four replications was used at both locations. Progenies with PA 7 as female parent had better seedling survival at the location with poorer production conditions. Low levels of genetic diversity among female clones at 86 single nucleotide polymorphism loci was reflected in larger standard errors for the additive variance due to female parents relative to that due to male parents. Non-additive genetic effects were much larger than the corresponding additive variance components for all traits at each of the two locations. Average yields over the fourth and fifth years after planting ranged from 0·23 to 1·29 t/ha/year. The standard varieties were not among the best progenies for seedling vigour, yield or yield efficiency (yield per unit trunk cross-sectional area (TCSA) per year). Narrow-sense heritability estimates were higher for three estimates of tree vigour (estimated as increase in TCSA) than for yield traits. Heritability for yield efficiency was a moderate ofh2= 0·5 ± 0·23. The study indicates that further yield increments are attainable by selecting and crossing among the early cacao introductions into West Africa.

J Trevor Williams (1938–2015): IBPGR director and genetic conservation pioneer

John Trevor Williams (always known as Trevor), who was Executive Secretary and first Director of the International Board for Plant Genetic Resources (IBPGR) between 1978 and 1990, passed away at the age of 76 on 30 March 2015 at his home in Cheshire, UK after a long respiratory illness. One legacy of Trevor’s contribution to the conservation of plant genetic resources can be found deep beneath the Arctic permafrost on the island of Spitsbergen, where millions of seeds of crop varieties and wild species—many collected through the efforts of IBPGR in the 1970s and 1980s—are in backup storage in the Svalbard Global Seed Vault (SGSV), popularly known as the ‘Doomsday Vault’. Opened 7 years ago, the SGSV is one major achievement of a plan set in motion three decades earlier by IBPGR to establish an international network of regional and national genebanks. The proposal to store backup samples of international genebank collections under the permafrost was first developed by IBPGR in 1988 (IBPGR 1990, p. 10), building on the experience of the Nordic Genebank that had already used an abandoned coal mine on Svalbard for the same purpose.

Isolation and 16S rRNA-Based Identification of Benomyl-Degrading Bacteria

Laboratory experiments were conducted to isolate and identify Benlate - (Benomyl) degrading microorganisms from two soil types collected from different locations in Khartoum State, Sudan. Benomyl degradationwas studiedat two temperatures (28 and 40∫C) in soil treated with three Benomyl con centrations (0.032, 3.2 and 8.0 mg Benomyl/g soil) and incubated for 360 days. Potential degraders were also tested in mineral salt liquid medium using Benomyl as a sole carbon source. Degradation percentages were then determined and the most efficient Benomyl degraders were identified by amplification with 16S rRNA gene, sequencing and alignment with deposited sequences in the international gene bank. A total of 64 isolates were recovered from the two soil types, with 59 (92.2%) isolates recovered from the clay soil. Thirty four isolates were recovered from clay soil treated with 8.0mg Ben omyl/g soil and incubated at 28∫ C. The most efficient Benomyl degraders, with degradation percentages in the range of 44 -59, were identified as Pseudomonas stutzeri (Two different isolates) , Pseudomonas putida, Acinetobacter johnsonii, Brevibacillus invocatus, Bacillus clausii, Lysinibacillussp. andAgrobacterium radiobacter.

Advances in seed conservation of wild plant species: a review of recent research.

Seed banking is now widely used for the ex situ conservation of wild plant species. Many seed banks that conserve wild species broadly follow international genebank guidelines for seed collection, processing, storage, and management. However, over the last 10-20 years, problems and knowledge gaps have been identified, which have led to more focused seed conservation research on diverse species. For example, there is now greater ecogeographic understanding of seed storage behaviour and of the relative longevity of orthodox seeds, and we are therefore able to predict which species should be conserved using cryostorage techniques; seed development studies have identified when seeds should be harvested for maximal tolerance of desiccation and longevity in storage, as well as highlighting how seed development can vary between species; and there is now a wealth of literature on the dormancy-breaking and germination requirements of wild species which, as well as enabling better management of accessions, will also mean that their use in restoration, species reintroduction, or for evaluation for other applications is possible. Future research may be focused, for example, on nursery and plant production systems for wild plant species that maximize genetic diversity, so that introduced seeds and plant materials have the resilience to cope with future environmental stresses.

Development of best practices for ex situ conservation of radish germplasm in the context of the crop genebank knowledge base

Information about crop-specific best practices for ex situ conservation of plant genetic resources has been difficult to find until recently. The CGIAR, together with national and regional partners, started to fill that gap by publishing best practices on the crop genebank knowledge base (CGKB -http://cropgenebank.sgrp.cgiar.org/), a website specifically developed and officially launched in 2010 to provide easy access to knowledge about all aspects of ex situ conservation of specific crops to genebank managers and ex situ conservation researchers. A collaborative study, undertaken by Bioversity International with eight national and international genebanks, utilized the framework provided by the CGKB to develop and publish radish conservation best practices. This paper focuses on two aspects of this study: (1) Differences in procedures and practices in radish conservation currently applied in five key genebank activities, namely, acquisition of germplasm, viability testing and monitoring, seed drying, seed storage, and regeneration. While in a few cases genebanks agreed on a specific best practice to recommend, in others it was not desirable to identify one practice as superior to another, therefore a range of existing practices is described as a variety of equivalent options. The results highlight the importance of proactive genebank management aimed at meeting the standards within the specific context in which a genebank operates. (2) The framework and template provided by the CGKB in guiding the development of genebank best practices, and the CGKB as an excellent resource to widely and freely share best practices with the global community to support the effective management of crop genebanks.

Inventory of related wild species of priority crops in Venezuela

A prerequisite in any conservation programme of Plant Genetic Resources is estimation of diversity. The inventory of wild and naturalized relatives of priority crops in Venezuela (CWR) is based on the main Catalogues of Flora in the country, selecting taxa closely related to crops, according to the concepts of “gene pool” and “taxonomic group”. We included 47 genera, 217 species and 228 taxa belonging to 28 plant families. Among them, those with higher richness are: Fabaceae, Solanaceae, Araceae, Lauraceae, Dioscoreaceae, Poaceae, Rosaceae and Myrtaceae. Genera with a higher number of species are Xanthosoma, Persea, Dioscorea, Prunus, Psidium, Phaseolus, Solanum, Vigna, Capsicum, Manihot, Theobroma, Ipomoea and Oryza. A total of 26 endemic species are found, which belong to genera Xanthosoma, Persea, Dioscorea, Prunus and Manihot. The primary gene pool of crops include native species from genera such as Manihot, Solanum (Section Petota), Lycopersicon, Ananas, Capsicum, Dioscorea, Xanthosoma, Phaseolus, Theobroma, Ipomoea, Gossypium, Arracacia and Psidium. Genera with native species weakly related to crops are Saccharum, Persea, Ipomoea, Prunus, Vigna, Solanum (Section Melongena) and Daucus. Crop genera without native species in Venezuela are Allium, Musa, Brassica, Spinacia, Helianthus, Pisum, Lactuca, Citrus, Elaeis, Beta, Glycine and Triticum. Only a few taxa have already been evaluated according to the IUCN criteria, and Venezuelan accessions of crop wild relatives in national and international genebanks are very scarce.

Taxonomy of cultivated potatoes (Solanum section Petota: Solanaceae)

Solanum tuberosum, the cultivated potato of world commerce, is a primary food crop worldwide. Wild and cultivated potatoes form the germplasm base for international breeding efforts to improve potato in the face of a variety of disease, environmental and agronomic constraints. A series of national and international genebanks collect, characterize and distribute germplasm to stimulate and aid potato improvement. A knowledge of potato taxonomy and evolution guides collecting efforts, genebank operations and breeding. Past taxonomic treatments of wild and cultivated potato have differed tremendously among authors with regard to both the number of species recognized and the hypotheses of their interrelationships. In total, there are 494 epithets for wild and 626 epithets for cultivated taxa, including names not validly published. Recent classifications, however, recognize only about 100 wild species and four cultivated species. This paper compiles, for the first time, the epithets associated with all taxa of cultivated potato (many of which have appeared only in the Russian literature), places them in synonymy and provides lectotype designations for all names validly published where possible. We also summarize the history of differing taxonomic concepts in cultivated potato, and provide keys and descriptions for the four cultivated species. © 2011 The Linnean Society of London, Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 2011, 165, 107-155.

DATE PALM GENETIC DIVERSITY CONSERVATION FOR SUSTAINABLE PRODUCTION

DATE PALM GENETIC DIVERSITY CONSERVATION FOR SUSTAINABLE PRODUCTION

Description of morphological characters of lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) genetic resources

Lettuce (<i>Lactuca sativa</i>) is the most important crop in the group of leafy vegetables. It is characterized by considerable morphological and genetic variation. The crop comprises seven main groups of cultivars (including oilseed lettuce) differing phenotypically; they are usually described as morphotypes. Lettuce breeding is primarilly focused on various morphological features and resistance against diseases and pests. The accurate description of lettuce germplasm provides basic information useful for lettuce breeders. The construction of a lettuce descriptor list has been stimulated by the international genebank community. This list consists of 55 descriptors with 15 elucidated by figures. It provides a tool for detailed characterization of and discrimination within the intraspecific variation of <i>L. sativa</i>, verification of old varieties, and identification of putative duplicates and gaps in germplasm collections. These descriptors, along with descriptors of wild <i>Lactuca</i> species, provide an efficient analytical tool for studying the complex morphological variability of this genus and relationships among the species.

HORTICULTURAL GENETIC RESOURCES COLLECTIONS: THEIR CHARACTERISTICS, STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES

HORTICULTURAL GENETIC RESOURCES COLLECTIONS: THEIR CHARACTERISTICS, STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES

Assessing genetic relationships among coconut ( Cocos nucifera L.) accessions using inter simple sequence repeat markers

Thirty-three coconut accessions from a world-wide coconut collection at the International GeneBank in India were analyzed using inter simple sequence repeat (ISSR) markers with 19 primers flanking the simple sequence (microsatellite) repeat regions. Total of 199 ISSR markers were scored, of which 154 were polymorphic. These markers were used to estimate the genetic similarity among accessions using Jaccard's similarity coefficient. Similarity matrix was used to construct a dendrogram and principal coordinate plot to show genetic relationships among accessions. Similarity values ranged between 0.526 and 0.855 and the least similarity was found between Nicobar tall (NICT01) and chowghat orange dwarf (COD). In the dendrogram and principal coordinate plots, coconut accessions from Southeast Asia, South Asia and South Pacific formed separate groups and this grouping was generally in accordance with their origin and pattern of dispersal of coconuts from its centre of origin.