Cotton Germplasm Collections:Opportunities and Challenges

According to an FAO report in 1996,49000 cotton genotypes are being maintained in germplasm collections worldwide. Of these accessions,approximately 67% reside in the six largest collections. Identification of mutual opportunities and challenges faced by these germplasm banks could result

Collection,Evaluation,and Utilization of Cotton Germplasm in China

A total of 8193 accessions,including 6822 Gossypium hirsutum,350 G.hirsutum race(sub-species),385 of G.barbadense,378 of G.arboreum,17 of G.herbaceum and 41 wild species,of

Genetic diversity of pepper(Capsicum spp.) germplasm resources in China reflects selection for cultivar types and spatial distribution

Pepper（Capsicum spp.） is an important vegetable crop in the world. Now the pepper in China contributes one-third of the world＇s peppers production. Genetic diversity of the pepper germplasm of China is expected interesting to know. To explore the structure of genetic diversity in Chinese pepper germplasm resources and possible relationship with cultivar types or geographic origin, we sampled and compared 372 Gen Bank pepper accessions（local cultivars and landraces） from 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities of China and 31 additional accessions from other countries. These accessions were genotyped using 28 simple sequence repeat（SSR） markers spanning the entire pepper genome. We then investigated the genetic structure of the sampled collection using model-based analysis in STRUCTURE v2.3.4 and examined genetic relationships by the unweighted pair-group method of mathematical averages（UPGMA） in MEGA. In addition to geographic origin, we evaluated eight plant and fruit traits. In total, 363 alleles were amplified using the 28 SSR primers. Gene diversity, polymorphism information content and heterozygosity of the 28 SSR loci were estimated as 0.09–0.92, 0.08–0.92 and 0.01–0.34, respectively. The UPGMA cluster analysis clearly distinguished Capsicum annuum L. from other cultivated pepper species. Population structure analysis of the 368 C. annuum accessions uncovered three genetic groups which also corresponded to distinct cultivar types with respect to the plant and fruit descriptors. The genetic structure was also related to the geographic origin of the landraces. Overall results indicate that genetic diversity of Chinese pepper landraces were structured by migration of genotypes followed by human selection for cultivar types in agreement with consumption modes and adaptation to the highly diversified agro-climatic conditions.

Exploit SSR in Cryptromeria fortunei and application in genetic diversity analysis

Cryptromeria fortunei is one of the main forest plantation species in the subtropical high altitude areas in China. In this paper we collected 49 C. fortunei germplasm resources and provides a study of the utility of freely available C. japonica EST resources for the development of markers necessary for genetic diversity analyses of C. fortunei. By screening 24,299 EST sequences from C. japonica with SSR Finder, we identified 2384 ESTs car- rying 2783 SSR motifs. We successfully obtained 364 （15 %） primers from 2419 putative SSR loci. Of the 80 candidate SSR markers tested, 70 （87.5 %） yielded stable and clear PCR products. With those primers, the genetic diversity of 49 C. fortunei we collected was studied. The results showed that 18 primers yield polymorphism within these accessions. These 18 primers generated 48 scorable SSR loci and the average number of polymorphic SSR loci per primer was 2.7. The PIC value varied from 0.375 to 0.8101, with the average of 0.4780. The Shannon index is 0.5718, and the value of the observed number of alleles and effective number of alleles are 1.9167 and 1.7289, respectively. The genetic coefficient of these 49 accessions varied from 0.28 to 0.87. According to the genetic dis- tances, a cluster tree was constructed. At genetic coefficient of 0.60, these 49 accessions can group into 3： group I contains only FJ-laizhou accession, and group II contains 2accessions from FJ-layang, and the other one group con- tains mixed accessions. At genetic coefficient of 0.68, the former group II was constructed into 7 subgroups, with the first 3 subgroups contain 16 accessions in which 11 （69 %） are from Fujian province, and the later 4 subgroup contain 31 accessions in which 20 （65 %） were from Zhejiang province.

An International Survey on State of the Art of Grain Legume Management in Gene Banks

An online survey addressed to members listed in the European Cooperative Programme for Crop Genetic Resources Networks Working Group on Graithe current problems in the management of GL germplasm, to work out the criterian Legumes and Grain Legumes （GL） germplasm managers and breeders was carded out to pinpoint and decisions involved in the implementation of regeneration procedures and to identify strategic areas where further research is required. The survey was divided into three sections： （1） germplasm collection details and current status of the regeneration needs; （2） assessment over the understanding of basic information required to carry out appropriate regeneration procedures such as the breeding systems, the pollination requirements and pollinating agents, the isolation techniques and regeneration facilities; and （3） assessment of different options, in addition to ＂ex situ＂, such as ＂in situ＂ and ＂on farm＂ conservation. Obtaining, collating and analysing different kinds of existing data on mating system of GL species, effective pollination control methods and isolation facilities by species and location is one example of a priority issue. The GL community makes a clear request for greater support for the development of well-designed methodologies of regeneration that maintain the genetic structure of populations and that the optimum regeneration strategy is most likely to be achieved through integrating pollinators with the regeneration procedures. A major concern of the GL community is the lack of empirical scientific information on the most suitable pollinator agents.

Collecting Landraces of Vegetable Crop Species in the South-West Romania

A collecting mission was carried out in south-west Romania in October 2013 with the aims： （1） to collect autochthonous crop genetic resources which still present in the south-west of Romania; （2） to assess the presence of on farm of plant genetic resources; （3） to determine the species and the amount of genetic diversity still cultivated and （4） to obtain information from germplasm owners to be used to evaluate the feasibility of an on farm conservation program. Out of 24 explored towns, in 8, landraces were grown and in all, instances seeds could be obtained. Fifty-three accessions from different crop species were collected in 17 sites, belonging to 10 botanical families, of which solanaceae was the most represented （32%）, followed by fabaceae （17%）, cueurbitaceae （11%） and alliaceae and brassicaceae （9%）. As expected, vegetable crops were the most collected, reaching a value as 58.5%, spices 20.8%, while pulses 15.1% and cereals 5.7% of the total. This collecting mission showed that in internal areas of Romania, germplasm of old landraces of many vegetable and crop species still survive, and indicated the urgency to continue also in other agricultural districts of Romania.