Genesys is an online, global portal about plant

genetic resources Genetic resources are genetic material of actual or potential value, where genetic material means any material of plant, animal, microbial genetics, microbial or other origin containing functional units of heredity. Genetic resources is one of the ...

for food and agriculture. It is a gateway from which

germplasm Germplasm refers to genetic resources such as seeds, tissues, and DNA sequences that are maintained for the purpose of animal and plant breeding, conservation efforts, agriculture, and other research uses. These resources may take the form of s ...

accessions from

gene bank A gene bank is a type of biorepository that is used across the world to store the genetic material of animals, plants, and other organisms. It preserves their genetic information in the form of reproductive material like seeds, sperm, eggs, emb ...

s around the world can be easily found and ordered. The project started in 2008 by

Bioversity International Bioversity International is a global research-for-development organization that delivers scientific evidence, management practices and policy options to use and safeguard agricultural biodiversity to attain global food security, food- and nutritio ...

, the

Global Crop Diversity Trust The Crop Trust, officially known as the Global Crop Diversity Trust, is an international organization, international nonprofit organization with a secretariat in Bonn, Bonn, Germany. Its mission is to conserve and make available the world's crop d ...

and the Secretariat of the

International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture The International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (also known as ITPGRFA, International Seed Treaty or Plant Treaty) is a comprehensive international agreement in harmony with the Convention on Biological Diversity, ...

, "to create a single information portal to facilitate the access to, and use of, accessions in ''ex situ'' gene banks". In May 2011, the first version of the website was launched, containing 2.3 million accession records and some three million phenotypic records for 22

crop A crop is a plant that can be grown and harvested extensively for profit or subsistence. In other words, a crop is a plant or plant product that is grown for a specific purpose such as food, Fiber, fibre, or fuel. When plants of the same spe ...

s: bananas, barley, beans, breadfruit, cassava, chickpeas, coconuts, cowpeas, faba beans, finger millet, grass peas, lentils, maize, pearl millet, pigeon peas, potatoes, rice, sorghum, sweet potatoes, taro, wheat and yams. It brought together data from three major networks: the European Plant Genetic Resources Search Catalogue (EURISCO), System-Wide Information Network for Genetic Resources (SINGER) from

CGIAR CGIAR (formerly the Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research) is a global partnership that unites international organizations engaged in research about food security. CGIAR research aims to reduce rural poverty, increase food ...

and the US Department of Agriculture's Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). In 2014, the second version of the website was launched. As of March 2015, the database listed 2.7 million accessions stored in 446 institutes from 252 countries. The source code, notably for the web server, is available online.

References

External links

Genesys home page

EURISCO home page

GRIN home page
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090814093722/http://www.ars-grin.gov/sitemapgrin.html , date=2009-08-14 Plant genetics German science websites

See also

References

External links