2012 Annual Report 1a.Objectives (from AD-416): Collect well documented plant genetic resources for the ARS managed U.S. National Plant Germplasm System. 1b.Approach (from AD-416): Highly qualified botanists working in the countries of the former Soviet Union, will be identified then contacted to develop proposals to collect and document needed genetic resources from their country. These proposals will be peer reviewed and those accepted will be funded and managed through this SCA. Collected germplasm and associated documentation will be equally shared with the national genebank in the host country. The U.S. share of the collected germplasm and documentation will be maintained in the appropriate collections of the U.S. NPGS. All plant exploration and exchange activities associated with the SCA will be in compliance with UN Convention on Biological Diversity and the International Treaty for Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. 3.Progress Report: In FY12, arrangements were made to collect crop wild relatives of Lactuca (lettuce) in Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. Successful collections were made in Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. The collected germplasm and associated documentation were entered into the U.S. National Plant Germplasm System. In addition, the Scope of Work for this project was expanded to include providing taxonomic support to the Plant Exchange Office/Crop Wild Relative program. A botanist will be hired by the cooperator to assist with the gathering and analyzing taxonomic data to identify the important genetic relatives of major and minor crops important to U.S. agriculture.