Genetic Resources and the Biobank

IBERS Biobank curates one of the largest ex-situ collections in the world on forage & amenity grasses, clover, oats, and bioenergy crop Miscanthus. The state-of-the-art Seed Biobank facility, a £7M investment from Aberystwyth University, BBSRC and EU, currently holds over 35,000 accessions for medium (20-50 years) to long-term (100 years) storage for research and breeding.

Since 1918/1919, IBERS had been making national and international expeditions to collect wild species in several continents, including Europe, Asia, Australia, Africa and North America. The main objectives of these germplasm collections are to increase the diversity of genetic resources available for research and breeding, and the conservation of biodiversity. All collections since 1992 are compliant with the United Nation’s Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefits Sharing (ABS) for utilization and commercialization. IBERS also possess one of the few quarantine facilities in the UK that can accommodate imported plants which require phytosanitary observations and control.

In-house database systems have been established to manage the passport data of these collections. IBERS Biobank is managing the database of UK National Inventory of Plant Genetic Resources (UKNPI), ECPGR (European Collection of Plant Genetic Resources) Lolium and Trifolium Database, and the UK’s submission to EURISCOdatabase which is then harvested by Genesis – PGR, the global portal for genetic resources for the FAO.

The BioBank also includes a highly functional seed processing facility for commercial seed production. Seed samples can be prepared from research to pre-commercial (10 tons) scales in line with International Seed Testing Association (ISTA) standards.