Author
 |
Ellis, David |
|
Submitted to: Meeting Proceedings
Publication Type: Proceedings Publication Acceptance Date: 4/30/2006 Publication Date: 4/30/2006 Citation: Ellis, D.D. 2006. The national center for genetic resources preservation (NCGRP). Proceedings of the 2006 Lincang International Symposium on the origin of tea. April 27 - May 3, 2006, Lincang, China. Interpretive Summary: The preservation of genetic resources is critical for the continued improvement of crops to ensure food security. The National Plant Germplasm System (NPGS) is a network of field stations throughout the US whose mandate is to acquire, preserve, evaluate, document and distribute plant genetic resources vital to global food safety and security. The NPGS represents one of the largest preservation and distribution systems of genetic resources in the world. The NPGS curates over 470,000 accessions of plants comprising almost 2,000 genera and 12,000 species. Over 150,000 of these accessions are distributed yearly with 50,000 of these accessions distributed overseas. To ensure the safe storage of these accessions, back-up collections of every accession are shipped to, and stored at, the National Center for Genetic Resources Preservation (NCGRP) in Fort Collins, Colorado. The NCGRP stores almost 700,000 seed accessions in -18oC storage and liquid nitrogen (-180oC). In addition to seeds, the NCGRP also stores over 4,000 accessions of vegetatively-propagated crops, such as pear, apple, strawberry, mint, grapes and garlic as shoot tips or axillary buds in liquid nitrogen. As a major storage facility for plant and animal genetic resources, the NCGRP staff work with scientists from a wide range of countries to help share information and resources to ensure the safe and secure preservation of global genetic resources. Although the NPGS has only a small collection of tea (Camellia sinensis), curated at the Hilo National Germplasm Repository in Hawaii, our collective expertise in woody plant propagation, tissue culture, seed biology and genetic resources preservation is available to help with the ex situ preservation of all global genetic resources, such as the ancient Yunnan tea trees and gardens. Technical Abstract: The US National Plant Germplasm System (NPGS) is composed of 28 field stations, each specializing in crops which grow in their area. The mandate of the NPGS is to acquire, preserve, evaluate, document and distribute plant genetic resources vital to global food safety and security. The NPGS curates over 470,000 accessions of plants comprising almost 2,000 genera and 12,000 species. Over 150,000 of these accessions are distributed yearly with 50,000 of these accessions distributed overseas. To ensure the safe storage of these accessions, back-up collections of every accession are shipped to, and stored at, the National Center for Genetic Resources Preservation (NCGRP) in Fort Collins, Colorado. The NCGRP stores almost 700,000 seed accessions in -18oC storage and liquid nitrogen (-180oC). In addition to seeds, the NCGRP also stores over 4,000 accessions of vegetatively-propagated crops as shoot tips or axillary buds in liquid nitrogen. NCGRP serves as a secure safety back-up storage facility for many of the major genebanks in the world and in this capacity it contains over 106,000 seed samples of rice. To complement the huge inventories of plant genetic resources, the NCGRP is also home to the US National Animal Germplasm Program which has over 250,000 accessions of semen, embryos and DNA stored from various agriculturally important animals. As a major storage facility for plant and animal genetic resources, the NCGRP staff work with scientists from a wide range of countries to help share information and resources to ensure the safe and secure preservation of global genetic resources. Although the NPGS has only a small collection of Camellia sinensis (tea), curated at our Hilo National Germplasm Repository in Hawaii, our collective expertise in woody plant propagation, tissue culture, seed biology and genetic resources preservation is available to help with the ex situ preservation of all global genetic resources, such as the ancient Yunnan tea trees and gardens. |
