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February 11, 2008
ARS News Service
Agricultural Research Service, USDA
By Kim
Kaplan
The Agricultural Research
Service (ARS) and
Bioversity
International are partnering with the
Global Crop Diversity
Trust to develop a powerful but easy-to-use, Internet-based
information management system for the world's plant genebanks.
The nucleus of the system will
be ARS's existing Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN),
a database that already houses information about the more than
480,000 accessions (distinct varieties of plants) in ARS’s
National Plant Germplasm System (NPGS).
In addition to serving as the information backbone of the NPGS,
GRIN has been adopted by Canada’s national genebank system as
their information management system. ARS has a long-term
commitment to maintaining and enhancing GRIN, which it began
developing more than 20 years ago.
As more genetic and
agricultural data are generated about the wide range of plants
preserved in genebanks around the world, the huge amount of
information is increasingly difficult to manage and make
accessible. This is especially the case for smaller genebanks in
the developing world that may lack the capacity and resources to
develop their own information management systems.
Now, thanks to the partnership
between the Global Crop Diversity Trust, ARS and Bioversity,
software upgrades will enable the GRIN system to be used by
genebanks of all sizes, making more information about more
plants available to researchers. The new system will help
genebanks conserve and use precious genetic resources more
effectively, and also help researchers, farmers and producers
make the best possible use of information.
For example, ARS recently
screened a key part of the U.S. wheat and barley collection to
find genes that provide resistance to a new rust fungus, Ug99,
that could threaten 80 percent of the world's wheat. Ug99 first
surfaced in Uganda in 1999, and has since been found in Kenya
and Ethiopia.
The Global Crop Diversity Trust
will contribute a $1.4 million grant to support this three-year
project. ARS will contribute the equivalent of more than
$900,000 in in-kind co-financing. Bioversity is providing its
expertise in information systems and its strong links with
genebanks, particularly in the developing world.
ARS is the
U.S. Department of Agriculture's
chief scientific research agency.
The Global Crop Diversity
Trust is an independent international organization whose mission
is to ensure the conservation and availability of crop diversity
for food security worldwide.
Bioversity International is
the world's largest international research organization
dedicated solely to the conservation and use of agricultural
biodiversity.
Other news
from
Bioversity International
Other news
from the Global Crop Diversity Trust |
