*e-mail: boerner@ipk-gatersleben.de

Plant genetic resources play a major role for global food security. The most significant and widespread means of conserving plant genetic resources is ex situ conservation. Most conserved accessions are kept in specialized facilities known as genebanks. Worldwide, 7.4 million accessions are stored in about 1,750 ex situ genebanks. The largest collections by crop are wheat (860,000 accessions) and rice (780,000 accessions).

With a total inventory of 150,000 accessions, the ‘Federal ex situ Genebank of Germany’ in Gatersleben holds one of the most comprehensive collections worldwide. It comprises wild and primitive forms, landraces as well as old and more recent cultivars. Starting in the 1920’s material was accumulated systematically. Seed storage is managed in large cold chambers at -18°C. Seeds are kept in glass jars, covered with bags containing silica gel (active collection) and in aluminum bags under vacuum (base collection).

Since the majority of genebank accessions is stored in the form of seed, seed longevity is of particular importance for crop germplasm preservation. At the IPK research was initiated for crops stored in the genebank over decades. It was found that there is an intraspecific variation within genebank collections. It was concluded that the differences in germination after long term storage are genetically based. Therefore, genetic analyses of seed longevity were initiated. Here we provide results on wheat.

In addition, mass spectrometry based untargeted metabolite profiling experiments were performed in order to detect biochemical changes coinciding with loss in seed germination. The lipidomic composition of a wheat panel was investigated using high-resolution liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS). A high proportion of tentative oxidized lipids was detected, suggesting lipid oxidation as the causal trigger for membrane degradation.

Besides preservation of the germplasm, the evaluation of the collections is a very important task for further utilisation. It is the prerequisite for the identification of genes to be used in breeding programmes for crop improvement.

Therefore, a number of bi-parental mapping populations and association mapping panels have been established to allow for the genetic analysis of various traits. The current focus covers resistance/tolerance to a number of biotic and abiotic stresses, in particular drought and cold.