Plant Germplasm Preservation Research Unit

Mission

Our mission is to develop strategies to conserve the genetic diversity of plants with current or future importance to US agriculture and landscapes. Research will provide a fundamental understanding of preservation technologies within the context of the conservation target (populations, genotypes, genes), other conservation steps (acquisition and regeneration), and the intended use of germplasm (usually breeding or restoration). The advanced knowledge will lead to cost-efficient genebank management and genetic resources that are useful, replenishable and genetically representative of the original population or individual.

PGPRU customers & stakeholders have a myriad of needs ranging in scope from economic, environmental, ethical and aesthetic concerns.
PGPRU is responsible for more than 10,000 globally distributed species with diverse physiologies and genetic backgrounds.

What is Preservation?

The process of preventing physical, biological, and genetic changes in life forms for a specified time. Life forms considered by the PGPRU are propagules (vegetatively or sexually derived) and populations of species with economic and environmental importance to the United States. Collecting and placing life forms in genebanks where they are stored in a state of suspended animation is the most economical method of safe-guarding genetic resources for the future.

Genes, Genotypes and Populations: derived cultivars and wild progenitors

Using seeds, we can conserve genes and provide the vehicle for genetic recombination and traditional regeneration. Preserving pollen provides additional ways to conserve rare alleles or allelic frequencies, especially if whole plants are difficult to maintain in situ (e.g. large trees) or are not yet amenable to preservation protocols.
Desirable genetic combinations are conserved as seeds from cultivars or inbred lines, or by preserving vegetative tissues when species require cross-pollination.
Preserving allelic frequencies within and among populations ensures that the genetic diversity of a species is captured efficiently and maintained through all conservation steps.

Why research is needed

Preservation protocols are needed for hundreds of species producing “recalcitrant” seeds and > 30,000 vegetatively propagated accessions already within NPGS.
Loss of viability during storage (aging) is difficult to predict, costly to monitor and has unknown consequences on genetic integrity.
Rapid and reliable regeneration protocols are needed to provide necessary sample sizes and replenish depleted accessions.
Collections are large and unwieldy with little information on population structure within and among accessions.
Information on genetic diversity is not incorporated into geographic and genomic databases.
US endemics receive little conservation effort despite potential for agronomic traits, new pharmaceuticals, and sustainable land use.

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Contact information: nsslal@ars-grin.gov
Telephone: 970-495-3226