What is it about?
We tested several state-of-the-art computation methods to select subsets of seed bank collections, aimed to preservation and utilization. We used data from a large collection of Mexican creole wheats, characterized with many genetic markers. It was found that simple heuristic algorithms performed with high efficiency. All the analytical work was performed in the language and environment for statistical computing R.
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Why is it important?
Seed banks are reservoirs of life, that preserve genetic diversity of plants. However, they may contain unmanageable amounts of accessions, and it is very useful to select subsets that capture most of the collection's genetic diversity. This work contributes to the knowledge of analytical tools that can be readily used to select those subsets, called "core collections".
Perspectives
Climate change and a growing human population are two big challenges, where plant genetic diversity can play a decisive role as a rescue strategy resource for fulfilling basic human needs. That is why seed banks grow in size and importance. I foresight a growing world-wide effort to manage those seed banks, and preserve and utilize the valuable genetic diversity to increase the resilience of food production.
M. Humberto Reyes-Valdés
Universidad Autonoma Agraria Antonio Narro
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Comparison of optimization methods for core subset selection from a large collection of Mexican wheat landraces characterized by SNP markers, Plant Genetic Resources, September 2017, Cambridge University Press,
DOI: 10.1017/s1479262117000247.
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