Luigi Guarino

November 24, 2012November 23, 2012

It’s germplasm evaluation, Jim, but not as we know it

Next generation sequencing (NGS) holds the promise for a more efficient approach to germplasm evaluation whereby a carefully selected subset of accessions can be sequenced and phenotyped in detail; associations discovered between genotypes and phenotypes in this subset could be used to predict the phenotype of other accessions based on sequence data alone.

Ah, “the promise.” Always the promise. But actually, in this document, “Technical appraisal of strategic approaches to large-scale germplasm evaluation,” some of the practicalities are spelled out, and in quite a lot of detail. You be the judge of whether the vision outlined in that opening quote is of a far-away, Star Trek world, or something that’s really just around the next corner. You can comment on the document itself, or here if you prefer.

November 23, 2012

Featured: ISO

A vote for ISO certification of genebanks from Michael:

I can’t believe there is even a debate about the usefulness of genebank certification. Certification is not a costly distraction or a mere prestige thing.

And another one from Cedric:

The process leading to an official certification is an institutional exercise of the ‘good’ kind. In-house certification is maybe cheaper and more flexible/less rigid (see FB discussion), but it is not the point of this somewhat cumbersome procedure.

Add your own!

November 23, 2012November 23, 2012

Nibbles: Polymotu, Korean genebank, Arizona fruits, B4N, Rice song, Medieval food

A “grand, almost surreal vision” of coconut conservation.
A grandish vision of ex situ crop conservation in Korea.
A very down-to-earth vision of fruit conservation in Arizona.
An extremely wacky vision of the post-agricultural world.
A workmanlike vision of biodiversity for nutrition project.
A musical vision of rice husking.
A historical vision of food in the Middle Ages.

November 23, 2012November 21, 2012

Geographically confused

Some confusing signals from the GIS folks of the CGIAR. We hear that the team behind the CGIAR Research Programme on Roots, Tubers and Bananas (RTB) met recently to discuss the geographic targeting of their interventions. The payoff is in the mail: “…the team is creating an online digital atlas on everything related to RTB crop development.” Promises to be very useful. But is that the same atlas that was announced at more or less the same time to separate fanfare? Certainly some of the same people are involved, but that’s not always a guide. I did play around with the IBP Generation Atlas for half an hour or so and I have to say I’m profoundly unimpressed so far. Sharing doesn’t really work. You can’t import your own data in any way that I can see. And I couldn’t get a number of the maps in the menu to load, for example the crop distribution one. But no doubt it’s all at the very forefront of GIS technology. So I’ll reserve definitive judgement until I’ve had a proper chance to test it. But don’t let me stop you jumping in. It could just be me.

November 22, 2012November 21, 2012

ISO certification: What is it good for?

Do genebanks need ISO certification to maintain standards? Or accreditation. Or whatever. We have talked about the issue of quality assurance here in the past. But a random Facebook status update of mine on the subject recently elicited a stronger reaction than I had seen in a while. What do you think? Comment here, or on Facebook. We’ll figure out a way of bringing it all together if there’s a good response.