Document or Lose It—On the Importance of Information Management for Genetic Resources Conservation in Genebanks

2020

Plant biodiversity is the foundation of our present-day food supply (including functional food and medicine) and offers humankind multiple other benefits in terms of ecosystem functions and resilience to climate change, as well as other perturbations. This Special Issue on ‘Plant Biodiversity and Genetic Resources’ comprises 32 papers covering a wide array of aspects from the definition and identification of hotspots of wild and domesticated plant biodiversity to the specifics of conservation of genetic resources of crop genepools, including breeding and research materials, landraces and crop wild relatives which collectively are the pillars of modern plant breeding, as well as of localized breeding efforts by farmers and farming communities. The integration of genomics and phenomics into germplasm and genebank management enhances the value of crop germplasm conserved ex situ, and is likely to increase its utilization in plant breeding, but presents major challenges for data management and the sharing of this information with potential users. Furthermore, also a better integration of in situ and ex situ conservation efforts will contribute to a more effective conservation and certainly to a more sustainable and efficient utilization. Other aspects such as policy, access and benefit-sharing that directly impact the use of plant biodiversity and genetic resources, as well as balanced nutrition and enhanced resilience of production systems that depend on their increased use, are also being treated. The editorial concludes with six key messages on plant biodiversity, genetic erosion, genetic resources and plant breeding, agricultural diversification, conservation of agrobiodiversity, and the evolving role and importance of genebanks.

Section: Conservation Of Agrobiodiversitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Plant Biodiversity and Genetic Resources Matter!

2020

“…When seed stocks are running low or when seed viability drops below a minimum threshold, seed lots need to be regenerated for seed replenishment. All these genebank operational steps are documented and in many genebanks are supported by a genebank information system [ 87 ].…”

Section: Description Of Ex Situ Germplasm Conservation Methods and Their Strengths And Weaknessesmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Critical Review of the Current Global Ex Situ Conservation System for Plant Agrobiodiversity. I. History of the Development of the Global System in the Context of the Political/Legal Framework and Its Major Conservation Components

2021

The history of ex situ conservation is relatively short, not more than a century old. During the middle of last century, triggered by the realization that genetic erosion was threatening the existing landraces and wild relatives of the major food crops, global efforts to collect and conserve the genetic diversity of these threatened resources were initiated, predominantly orchestrated by FAO. National and international genebanks were established to store and maintain germplasm materials, conservation methodologies were created, standards developed, and coordinating efforts were put in place to ensure effective and efficient approaches and collaboration. In the spontaneously developing global conservation system, plant breeders played an important role, aiming at the availability of genetic diversity in their breeding work. Furthermore, long-term conservation and the safety of the collected materials were the other two overriding criteria that led to the emerging international network of ex situ base collections. The political framework for the conservation of plant genetic resources finds its roots in the International Undertaking of the FAO and became ‘turbulent rapid’ with the conclusion of the Convention on Biological Diversity. This paper reviews the history of the global ex situ conservation system with a focus on the international network of base collections. It assesses the major ex situ conservation approaches and methods with their strengths and weaknesses with respect to the global conservation system and highlights the importance of combining in situ and ex situ conservation.

“…Internationally accepted multi-crop passport descriptors (MCPD) [ 57 ] have been adopted by most gene banks as standards for documenting passport, characterization, and evaluation data. These descriptors allow the exchange of accession-level data between gene banks and the operation of international information data portals on PGRFA, such as Genesys, the FAO-led World Information and Early Warning System on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (WIEWS), the European Search Catalog for Plant Genetic Resources (EURISCO), and GRIN-Global [ 55 , 58 ]. As noted by CGIAR gene bank managers, one of the most important factors affecting demand for PGRFA is the quality, comprehensiveness, and relevance of the accession-level information that gene banks compile about the materials in their collections and make accessible online [ 47 ].…”

Section: Brief Description and Critical Review Of Key Routine Germplasm Conservation Activitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Critical Review of the Current Global Ex Situ Conservation System for Plant Agrobiodiversity. II. Strengths and Weaknesses of the Current System and Recommendations for Its Improvement

2021

In this paper, we review gene bank operations that have an influence on the global conservation system, with the intention to identify critical aspects that should be improved for optimum performance. We describe the role of active and base collections and the importance of linking germplasm conservation and use, also in view of new developments in genomics and phenomics that facilitate more effective and efficient conservation and use of plant agrobiodiversity. Strengths, limitations, and opportunities of the existing global ex situ conservation system are discussed, and measures are proposed to achieve a rational, more effective, and efficient global system for germplasm conservation and sustainable use. The proposed measures include filling genetic and geographic gaps in current ex situ collections; determining unique accessions at the global level for long-term conservation in virtual base collections; intensifying existing international collaborations among gene banks and forging collaborations with the botanic gardens community; increasing investment in conservation research and user-oriented supportive research; improved accession-level description of the genetic diversity of crop collections; improvements of the legal and policy framework; and oversight of the proposed network of global base collections.