In situ conservation of PGR is primarily concerned with the protection of specific areas to give plants a chance to survive, thrive and evolve in their natural habitats. Some PGR contribute to food and agriculture (PGRFA) by being managed, selected, and exchanged by farmers. On farm conservation aims at maintaining the conditions under which this can continue to happen. Neither on farm nor in situ conservation can provide a guarantee against the loss of genetic diversity. In addition, use of PGRFA maintained on farm by anyone but the farmers directly involved can be difficult.
This is where ex situ conservation in genebanks and other repositories, such as botanical gardens, comes in. Genebanks are tasked with long-term conservation of PGRFA, including safety duplication, viability monitoring and regeneration, following established standards and practices. Genebanks distribute only small amounts of material, primarily to breeders and researchers. Breeders try to outpace nature and facilitate faster development of desired traits by various methods. They generate new genotypes, breeding materials not ready for commercialization, often distributed as nurseries, but only a small fraction of these are eventually formally released as new varieties. Seed companies mass-produce according to rigorous quality standards planting material of profitable varieties that make it to farmers’ fields and eventually into the food chain.
The Global Information System for PGRFA (GLIS) of the FAO’s ITPGRFA “integrates and augments existing systems to create the global entry point to information and knowledge for strengthening the capacity for PGRFA conservation, management and utilization”. These systems deal with ex situ, in situ, on-farm data and other type of PGRFA associated information.
Genesys plays a key role in the Global Information System of the ITPGRFA by specifically supporting genebanks in making information about their collections accessible to the world.
Detailed accession-level information on the PGRFA maintained in the world’s genebank collections is easily and freely accessible and searchable by users.
Genesys provides an easy-to-use platform through which external users access accession-level data from genebanks for a variety of purposes. Genesys provides support to genebanks in documenting and preparing existing data on their material for online publication according to agreed standards.
Collections of diverse, unique samples of landraces and crop wild relatives are managed in genebanks following agreed international standards to maintain viability, diversity and genetic integrity. Genebanks at least theoretically commit to making such material available forever, contrary to materials in breeding programs, which need not always be conserved for the long term. Well-managed passport, characterization and evaluation data on the material in genebanks is invaluable to users but must be easily and widely accessible to fulfill its potential. Genesys supports genebanks in sharing such data.
Genesys aims to bring together information on all the millions of accessions stored in genebanks around the world for access via one easy-to-use website. Rather than trawling through multiple, separate databases, users should be able to simultaneously search hundreds of genebank collections with a single search term or filter. Genesys makes this essential preliminary stage of the work of the breeder and researcher more efficient.
This does not mean that genebanks should not maintaining their own public websites. In fact, that’s a useful, though not a necessary, first step in sharing their data on an aggregator such as Genesys.
Users can discover material of interest on Genesys and then continue to refine their search on the websites of individual genebanks (if available). As needed, they can also then reach out to genebank curators for assistance in obtaining the material most relevant for their needs. This requires up-to-date contact information in the FAO WIEWS database, which Genesys uses and which is also recognized as an important component of GLIS.
Genesys publishes passport, characterization and evaluation data, and accession images of PGRFA conserved in genebanks. Records for archived or historical materials should be included for reference purposes.
Genesys provides guidance and assistance to genebanks in documenting the data so it is suitable for publication following agreed standards. Genesys develops and makes available tools for data providers to improve the quality of the data they share.
Data provided by genebanks through Genesys is publicly accessible and remains the intellectual property of the data provider. The Genesys Terms and Conditions of Use specify how data may be used by others.
Genesys facilitates the submission of germplasm requests to genebanks for consideration in the context of their distribution policies.
Genesys does not host information on in situ germplasm, breeding materials or released varieties, unless formally part of genebank collections. Genesys does not host genetic/sequence data or other high-throughput (-omics) data. These types of data are better handled using specialized software, and Genesys enables linking to these resources, using accession DOIs where possible.
Genesys serves and informs two distinct but connected groups of stakeholders: PGRFA users and ex situ collection holders. PGRFA users include breeders, researchers, and policymakers who use Genesys to inform their own work. Ex situ collection holders comprise genebanks and research institutes who use Genesys to publish accession data on the web.
Genesys provides its services in collaboration with other regional and international plant genetic resources databases and data services. Partnerships comprise the mutual exchange of data and experiences to create synergies and avoid duplication of efforts. Partners include the European Search Catalogue for Plant Genetic Resources (EURISCO) of the European Cooperative Programme for Plant Genetic Resources (ECPGR), the FAO’s World Information and Early Warning System on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (WIEWS), and the Global Information System (GLIS) on Plant Genetic Resources of the ITPGRFA.