Molecular markers
In the last decades, the use of DNA markers for the study of crop genetic diversity has become routine, and has revolutionized biology. Increasingly, techniques are being developed to more precisely, quickly and cheaply assess genetic variation, and molecular tools have also found the way to genebanks.
However, each molecular technique has its own features and there is no single molecular approach to address the various issues in plant genetic resources management. Main goal of this website is to outline the characteristics of the main marker technologies and to provide guidance to their use.
Marker technologies
Many different marker technologies have been developed to study variation in the DNA. Here we present an overview of the characteristics of the more commonly used technologies. Row and column heads in the table can be selected, after which more detailed information about the technology or the characteristic is presented.
Applications
The realization that the world was rapidly losing much of its agrobiodiversity led to a global effort to collect and conserve germplasm. An increasing awareness of the narrow genetic base of crops in advanced agriculture and potential susceptibility to crop failures further stimulated the efforts to collect, and in 2010 a system of national and international genebanks eventually amassed holdings of 7.4 million accessions in 1750 genebanks worldwide.
CGN studies
Here we present an overview of published marker-based research studies in which CGN has been involved. The publications are grouped according to various PGR-related topics.
Suggested reading
Future Prospects of Molecular Markers in Plants Mir, R.R., Varshney, R.K. (2012). In: Henry RJ (ed) Molecular Markers in Plants. Blackwell Publishing Ltd., Oxford, UK. doi:10.1002/9781118473023.ch10
Advances in molecular marker techniques and their applications in plant sciences Agarwal, M., Shrivastava, N., Padh, H. (2008). Plant Cell Reports 27: 617-631. doi:10.1007/s00299-008-0507-z
Molecular Markers for Genebank Management Spooner, D., van Treuren, R., de Vicente, M.C. (2005). IPGRI Technical Bulletin No. 10. International Plant Genetic Resources Institute, Rome, Italy.