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Abstract Detail



Botanical DNA Banking and the Systematics Community: Working Together to Meet Future Research Challenges

Soltis, Douglas E. [1], SOLTIS, PAMELA S. [1].

DNA banks and building the Tree of Life.

The community needs an integrated system of obtaining and archiving DNA and tissue samples.  DNAs should all be archived and available to the world via various Genetic Resource Repositories (GRR).  A repository's mission is to guarantee the proper preservation of the genetic resources and facilitate their use by the global scientific community. The integrity of the specimens is ensured by their cryogenic storage in a nitrogen-cooled freezer with a temperature of minus 300 degrees Fahrenheit. Many specimens in repositories are rare and endangered species from diverse regions of the world; they also include unique samples from diversity clades of life. These collection should prove instrumental to research programs worldwide. The information linking the DNA sample to the original source and other data relevant to their molecular value should be managed in a searchable online database. For example, the Florida Museum of Natural History's Genetic Resources Repository archives more than 30,000 tissue samples and DNA and RNA preparations from physical specimens; the Museum estimates it will add more than 100,000 specimens to the collection in the next 15 to 20 years.  There are currently ~ 65 GRR but these are not effectively linked in any way. More importantly, many samples remain housed only in the freezers of the PI. Future research in systematics should mandate deposition of samples in this and similar archives. The systematics community also requires a system that links the data bases of all such repositories worldwide so that researchers can easily search for samples.


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1 - University of Florida, Florida Museum of Natural History, PO Box 117800, Gainesville, FL, 32611, USA

Keywords:
DNA repository
Genetic Resource Repository
DNA bank.

Presentation Type: Symposium or Colloquium Presentation
Session: SY07
Location: Whitewater/Grove
Date: Tuesday, July 29th, 2014
Time: 3:45 PM
Number: SY07006
Abstract ID:457
Candidate for Awards:None


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