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Title: National Center for Genetic Resource Preservation: serving the safety back up needs of wild seed collections

Author
item Greene, Stephanie
item White, Michelle

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/15/2015
Publication Date: 4/10/2015
Citation: Greene, S.L., White, M.R. 2015. National Center for Genetic Resource Preservation: serving the safety back up needs of wild seed collections. Meeting Abstract. National Native Seed Conference, Santa Fe, NM. April 13-16, 2015.

Interpretive Summary: The USDA National Center for Genetic Resource Preservation (NCGRP) is a part of the National Plant GermplasmSystem (NPGS). The NPGS houses over 560,000 accessions representing 14,000 species. An important role of the NCGRP is to provide long term storage of the US base collection; essentially a backup copy of the crop collections curated and distributed from 17 gene banks located throughout the country. Although most of the seed stored at NCGRP is from domesticated species, we provide long term storage for wild species as well. Important back up collections of native wild species include germplasm collected by the BLM Seeds of Success program. We also provide backup capacity for rare, endangered, and endemic species collected and conserved by the Center for Plant Conservation and many botanical gardens. The US Forest Service and many Native American Tribes also take advantage of NCGRP storage facilities.

Technical Abstract: The USDA National Center for Genetic Resource Preservation (NCGRP) is a part of the National Plant GermplasmSystem (NPGS), a network of Federal and State sites that make up the U.S. gene bank for crop species. The NPGS houses over 560,000 accessions representing 14,000 species. An important role of the NCGRP is to provide long term storage of the US base collection; essentially a backup copy of the crop collections curated and distributed from 17 gene banks located throughout the country. Although most of the seed stored at NCGRP is from domesticated species, we provide long term storage for wild species as well. Important back up collections of native wild species include germplasm collected by the BLM Seeds of Success program. We also provide backup capacity for rare, endangered, and endemic species collected and conserved by the Center for Plant Conservation and many botanical gardens. The US Forest Service and many Native American Tribes also take advantage of NCGRP storage facilities. A Material Transfer Agreement assures non NPGS donors that they retain ownership of their collections under black-box arrangement in which NCGRP provides optimal storage conditions but does not conduct viability tests or distribute seeds and will return seed to owner at their request. This service is provided free of charge to qualified entities although we ask that donors have a distribution policy in line with the NPGS mission to freely provide seed for research, education, and plant breeding efforts.