International Partnership to Develop a Global
Plant Genebank Information System
By
Kim Kaplan February 11, 2008
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 ARSs National Plant Germplasm System
(NPGS). In addition to serving as
the information backbone of the NPGS, GRIN has been adopted by Canadas
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.