MONITORING PROGRESS REPORT 2006

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Food and Agriculture (FA) Domain Committee
MONITORING PROGRESS REPORT 2006
3rd DC meeting, Antalya (TR), 31 Jan 2 Feb 2007
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COST Action 871 Domain Food and Agriculture (FA)
Cryopreservation of crop species in Europe
CSO approval date 27/06/2006 Entry into force
20/09/2006 End date
11/12/2010
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Action 871 Cryopreservation of crop species in
Europe
Participating Countries 15
Chair BE
BG, CZ, DK, FI, FR, DE, IT, NL, PL, PT, CS, SK,
ES, UK In the pipe-line TR, RO, GR,
LU Non-COST Vavoliv, Russia
Economic Dimension 38 Million
Duration 4 years
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Management Report data, part 2

• Chair of the Action Dr. Bart Panis
• Laboratory of Tropical Crop Improvement,
  K.U.Leuven,Kasteelpark Arenberg 13, B-3001
  Leuven, BELGIUM
• Vice chair of the Action Professor Paul LYNCH
• Biological and Forensic Sciences
  department,,School of Science
• University of Derby, Kedleston Road
• DE22 1GB Derby, United Kingdom
• Rapporteur Dr. Charles Spillane
• Genetics Biotechnology Lab, Biochemistry
  DepartmentUniversity College Cork, Lee Maltings
  2.1, Cork, Ireland
• Science Officer
• B. STOL
• Administrative Officer
• C. PEETERS
• Action website in preparation

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Management Report data, part 3
OBJECTIVES
The main objective of this action is to improve
and apply technologically advanced techniques for
plant genetic resources conservation of crops
that are grown/ and or conserved in Europe with
main emphasis on long-term conservation through
cryopreservation.
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Management Report data, part 3
Specific objectives of CRYOPLANET ?
Objective 1 To screen in detail the current
utilization of plant cryopreservation in Europe.
Objective 2 To screen and compare the
efficiency of existing plant cryopreservation
protocols. Objective 3 To improve fundamental
knowledge about cryoprotection through the
determination of physico-biochemical changes
associated with tolerance towards
cryopreservation. Objective 4 To develop new
plant cryopreservation protocols. Objective 5
To assure the genetic stability and
true-to-typeness of plants after
cryopreservation. Objective 6 To apply
cryopreservation to European plant germplasm
collections. Objective 7 To proof the
environmental, social and economic impact of
plant cryopreservation.
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Management Report data, part 4

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WG1 Fundamental aspects of cryopreservation/cryop
rotection and genetic stability
1.1. Fundamental aspect of cryopreservation and
cryoprotection Elucidation of the
physico-biochemical background of cryoprotection
and cryopreservation.
Professor Pawel PUKACKI (chair WG1) Physiology of
Abiotic Stress LabInstitute of Dendrology,
Polish Academy of SciencesParkowa 5, 62-035
KornikPoland
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WG1 Fundamental aspects of cryopreservation/cryop
rotection and genetic stability
1.2. Genetic stability and authenticity
Assessment of the genetic integrity of plants to
determine if they are true to type after
cryopreservation.
Dr. M. Angeles REVILLA BAHILLO (co-chair
WG1)Departamento Biología de Organismos y
SistemasFaculty of Biologia, Universidad de
OviedoCatedrático Rodrigo Uría s/n, 33071
OviedoSpain
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WG2 Technology, application and validation of
plant cryopreservation
2.1. Technology aspects of cryopreservation Applic
ations of different cryopreservation protocols to
different plant species and tissues.
Dr. Florent ENGELMANN (chair WG2)UR 141, IRDBP
64501, 911 avenue Agropolis34394 Montpellier
cedex 05France
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WG2 Technology, application and validation of
plant cryopreservation
2.2. Impact and applications of cryopreservation
in plants genebanks, establishment of cryo-bank
and dissemination of results
Dr. Joachim KELLER (co-chair WG2) Leibniz
Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant
Research IPKCorrensstraße 3, 466
GaterslebenGermany
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State of the art (Europe/rest world)

• National Seed Storage Laboratory (NSSL) (Fort
  Collins, Colorado, USA) 2,100 accessions of
  apple (dormant buds)
• National Clonal Germplasm Repository (NCGR) of
  Corvallis (USA) 104 accessions of pear (shoot
  tips)
• International Potato Centre (CIP) (Lima, Peru)
  345 potato accessions
• Tissue Culture BC Research Inc.(Vancouver, BC,
  Canada) 5000 accessions representing 14 conifer
  species
• AFOCEL (Association Forêt Cellulose) of France,
  with over 100 accessions of elm (dormant buds)
• National Institute of Agrobiological Resources
  (NIAR) of Japan, with about 50 accessions of
  mulberry.
• IRD (Montpellier, France) 80 accessions of oil
  palm
• IPK (Gatersleben, Germany)/ DSMZ (Braunschweig,
  Germany) 519 old potato varieties
• INIBAP, Laboratory of Tropical Crop Improvement,
  K.U.Leuven (Heverlee, Belgium) 500 banana
  accessions

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Why is cryopreservation not more widely applied?

• the unavailability of efficient and robust
  cryopreservation protocols applicable to many
  plant species and diverse germplasm types
• limited awareness of plant researchers
  unacquainted to recent developments in cryogenic
  storage methods
• lack of coordinated research on plant
  cryopreservation.
• ? COST action like CRYOPLANET can make the
  difference

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Time table
MC meeting Management committee meeting WG
meeting Working group meeting STSMs Short-term
scientific missions Workshop Timing of the
Inter-COST Workshops will be defined in agreement
with the Management committee of that specific
Action.
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Meetings planned

• 1/ WG1 meeting
• April 13-14 Oviedo (Spain)
• Organiser Dr. M. Angeles REVILLA BAHILLO
• 2/ WG2 meeting combined with meeting of executive
  committee May 11-12 Firenze (Italy)
• Organiser Dr. Lambardi MAURIZIO
• 3/ Management Committee meeting
• In combination with the Society for Low
  Temperature Biology Annual Scientific meeting at
  the University of Derby (12-14th Sept 2007)
  hosted by Professor Paul LYNCH
• 4/ Training Workshop on DSC and thermal analysis
  (8 researchers)
• End 2007
• Organiser Dr. Milos FALTUS (Prague, Czech
  Republic)

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Dissemination plans

• Articles in refereed scientific journals
• Common reviews, books
• A public website (information about the project,
  the achievements, services/consultancies offered
  and announcements of training workshops.
• Information on the official webpages of the
  collaborating institutions.
• The consortium will organize workshops for
  scientists, germplasm curators regulatory bodies
  and policy makers
• At the end of the Action, the consortium will
  offer its expertise as a service to the EU.
• Presentations at International Conferences, for
  promoting the European know-how and increasing
  the international collaboration.
• Teaching activities in Universities at
  undergraduate and post-graduate level. Young
  scientists and engineers will thus be trained and
  informed on the latest developments in
  cryopreservation.
• Significant need to develop dissemination plan.
  This will be a major agenda item at Executive
  Committee Meeting in May (Firenze). Members of
  COST 871 need to feedback ideas to the Executive
  Committee by end of April 2007

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Conclusions

• Everything is in place