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REVIEW article

Front. Plant Sci.
Sec. Plant Breeding
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpls.2024.1437541

Will a plant germplasm accession conserved in a genebank change genetically over time?

Provisionally accepted
Yong-Bi Fu Yong-Bi Fu *
  • Saskatoon Research and Development Centre, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC), Saskatoon, Canada

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    The simplified question on the genetic change of a conserved plant germplasm accession over time is raised for a better understanding of the challenging mission of conserving more than 7.4 million germplasm accessions in 2000 genebanks worldwide for generations to come. Its answer will influence how these genebanks operate to ensure the continued survival and availability of the conserved plant genetic resources for future food security. Here, we explore the expected impact of evolutionary forces on plant germplasm in genebanks, search for the theoretical expectations and empirical evidence for such impacts from the literature, and discuss the ramifications of the evidence for long-term plant germplasm management and conservation. It is expected that genetic changes of long-term conserved germplasm under genebank conditions will occur commonly as an evolutionary rule, not as an exception. Incorporating evolutionary biology into the Genebank Standards and operational procedures will benefit the mission of long-term germplasm conservation.

    Keywords: Plant genetic resource, long-term germplasm conservation, Genebank management, germplasm regeneration, Genetic change

    Received: 23 May 2024; Accepted: 02 Sep 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Fu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Yong-Bi Fu, Saskatoon Research and Development Centre, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC), Saskatoon, Canada

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.