The Plant Section of the NIAS Genebank project conducts exploration, collection, characterization, evaluation, preservation, multiplication, and distribution services of PGRFA for traditional landraces, improved cultivars, breeding lines, and to some extent wild relatives to fulfill expanding demands of plant breeders and research scientists.
The plant collections conserved in NIAS genebank are included in the following 13 groups (Number of accessions as in 2008);
* Rice (44,224),
* Wheat and barley (62,333),
* Legumes (18,956),
* Root and tuber crops (8,889),
* Millets, other cereals, industrial crops (19,058),
* Grasses and forage crops (33,099),
* Fruit trees (10,300),
* Vegetables (27,224),
* Ornamental flowers and trees (5,873),
* Tea (7,547),
* Mulberry (2,178),
* Tropical and subtropical crops (418), and
* Others, such as herbs and spices (3,364).
The Plant Section has been dispatching both domestic and overseas exploration teams annually to survey the distribution and collect the variation of plants. The total number of newly registered PGRFA amounts to over 5,000 accessions per year, including accessions obtained by exchanges with domestic and overseas research institutes. Activities of such exploration missions can be viewed in the Annual Report on Exploration and Introduction of PGRFA at:
http://www.gene.affrc.go.jp/publications.php?section=plant&type=report.
Collected plants are identified, characterized and analyzed by researchers. Cultivation for seed multiplication is conducted at the same time. The harvested seeds are preserved in a low-temperature and low-moisture environment over the long term. The number of registered accessions is over 240,000 as of 2008.
The information on the history and properties of the registered genetic resources is added to the database and is made open to the public through the Internet. The database can be searched by property, and information on any genetic resource with the desired properties can easily be obtained at:
http://www.gene.affrc.go.jp/plant/SEARCH/db/index-e.html.
The genetic resources preserved at the NIAS Genebank can be requested for testing/research or educational purposes. Annually 5,000~10,000 accessions are distributed to both domestic and overseas research institutes, contributing to research and development.
Materials from the genebank are used in analyses of genetic, physiological, ecological diversity, plant breeding and as possible raw materials for food processing. Our PGRFA are expected to bring about major developments in agriculture and agricultural science through breeding programs and other procedures as exemplified by “Nipponbare” whose whole genome information was analyzed by scientists mainly based at NIAS and by “Wataribune”, an old cultivar that has been underutilized but is now used as brewing rice.
Among the total of over 240,000 accessions, the NIAS center-bank conserves 156,909 accessions of which 112,015 are in the active collection. The remaining PGRFA are preserved at sub-banks. As the center-bank of the project, NIAS has two seed conservation facilities; one for long-term conservation (base collection) and another for distribution (active collection). The former is kept at –10 ºC and 30% RH, while the latter at –1 ºC and 30% RH.
Each accession registered in the NIAS Genebank system is grown for multiplication and characterization, and the seed is gently dried at room temperature and preserved in the two storage facilities. The seed germinability is tested once every five-year, accessions with
germination below a set threshold or with few seeds are multiplied from the seed samples preserved at the long-term conservation facility.
Domestic and international collaborative field surveys and exploration missions are organized by the Project. Routine characterization for primary characters (basic morphological and ecological characters), secondary characters (stress tolerance) and tertiary characters (crop quality characters) are investigated mainly by specialists in sub-banks according to Japanese descriptor lists. In 2007 data items totaling 120,000 (no. of accessions x characters) were recorded for primary characters, 25,000 for secondary ones, and 29,000 for tertiary characters. In addition, new characterization trials, pre-breeding or genetic enhancement, and selection of core collection or special germplasm research sets of genetic diversity are supported by the genebank project based on research proposals.
Examples of recent research of genebank project scientists related to core collections can be found in the following publications: Kojima et al., 2005 in rice; Sangiri et al. 2007 in mungbean; and Xu et al. 2008 in azuki bean. About 5000 PGRFA accessions are multiplied annually for seed crops. Cryopreservation has successfully been performed for about 1500 mulberry accessions. Research is currently being conducted to improved cryopreservation technology for different PGRFA such as Chrysanthemum and Juncus species.
The NIAS genebank project intends to expand the active collection that is available for users. After the CBD came into effect in 1993, the genebank project has been careful regarding sovereign rights and intellectual property rights on PGRFA, since our policy is compliance, accountability and ethics. For that reason we have precisely examined each accession regarding status. We are striving to ensure whole information of accessions conserved in the NIAS Genebank is available and all collections are able to distribute for requester.
The NIAS Genebank has the responsibility to distribute the PGR for breeding, research, and educational purposes to the breeders and scientists of research institutions in Japan and international request. For scientists who are interested in germplasm related to food and agriculture within the NIAS Genebank system, they are directed to the databases that provide full details of how to request materials in each category of genetic resource. The databases including information on passport data, evaluation as well as more general information on genetic resources in the NIAS Genebank that can be found at this web site at:
http://www.gene.affrc.go.jp/databases_en.php.