The Nottingham Arabidopsis Stock Centre (arabidopsis.info)
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Nottingham
Department Name: Sch of Biosciences
Abstract
The Nottingham Arabidopsis Stock Centre (NASC) has been a national and international resource since 1990. From 200 seed stocks held during 1991, we now store over a million genotypes in physical stocks servicing a vigorous worldwide Arabidopsis community in more than 50 countries (partnered with our USA sister centre ABRC as the two key arabidopsis stock centres in the world).
Thousands of seed donations arrive every year from academic, commercial and institutional scientists to be preserved in specialist facilities dedicated to long-term storage. All donations are stored, amplified and processed into our user-friendly on-line catalogue.
NASC is widely used and appreciated. More than 50,000 individual stocks sent per year since 2007, and greater than 100,000 individual stocks per year from 2013-2018 with a maximum so far of over 180,000 total seed tubes sent in one single year.
Our users range through applied crop, model organism and computational systems biologists. We are referenced in many publications as an underpinning resource for plant sciences, and we help scientists to receive essential arabidopsis materials in a very cost effective, straightforward, and efficient manner. We also have strong stable partnerships with the US stock centre (ABRC), and The Arabidopsis Informatics Resource (TAIR).
All this century we have charged a nominal fee per stock through willingness and ability to supplement our grant from cost recovery income. This has been used to employ temporary workers to match total BBSRC funded staff numbers as well as all consumables, travel, equipment and service contracts. Our BBSRC funding is thereby effectively subsidised for UK users by our foreign customers (particularly in Europe and East Asia).
This proposal covers both the informatics of the catalogue (e.g. germplasm curation and data distribution) as well as the physical distribution resource and would ensure continuity and stability of both physical and germplasm data resources for the UK Arabidopsis community (and beyond).
Primary objective : to continue and maintain informatic operations for our very busy (continually expanding and extending) germplasm distribution centre.
Secondary objective : to continue to leverage current state of the art bioinformatic technologies and strong community connections to stay at the forefront of progress in the international arabidopsis resource community at a time of considerable dynamic change.
Thousands of seed donations arrive every year from academic, commercial and institutional scientists to be preserved in specialist facilities dedicated to long-term storage. All donations are stored, amplified and processed into our user-friendly on-line catalogue.
NASC is widely used and appreciated. More than 50,000 individual stocks sent per year since 2007, and greater than 100,000 individual stocks per year from 2013-2018 with a maximum so far of over 180,000 total seed tubes sent in one single year.
Our users range through applied crop, model organism and computational systems biologists. We are referenced in many publications as an underpinning resource for plant sciences, and we help scientists to receive essential arabidopsis materials in a very cost effective, straightforward, and efficient manner. We also have strong stable partnerships with the US stock centre (ABRC), and The Arabidopsis Informatics Resource (TAIR).
All this century we have charged a nominal fee per stock through willingness and ability to supplement our grant from cost recovery income. This has been used to employ temporary workers to match total BBSRC funded staff numbers as well as all consumables, travel, equipment and service contracts. Our BBSRC funding is thereby effectively subsidised for UK users by our foreign customers (particularly in Europe and East Asia).
This proposal covers both the informatics of the catalogue (e.g. germplasm curation and data distribution) as well as the physical distribution resource and would ensure continuity and stability of both physical and germplasm data resources for the UK Arabidopsis community (and beyond).
Primary objective : to continue and maintain informatic operations for our very busy (continually expanding and extending) germplasm distribution centre.
Secondary objective : to continue to leverage current state of the art bioinformatic technologies and strong community connections to stay at the forefront of progress in the international arabidopsis resource community at a time of considerable dynamic change.
Technical Summary
The Nottingham Arabidopsis Stock Centre (NASC) has been a national and international resource since 1990. From 200 seed stocks held during 1991, we now store over a million genotypes in physical stocks servicing a vigorous worldwide Arabidopsis community in more than 50 countries (partnered with our USA sister centre ABRC as the two key arabidopsis stock centres in the world).
Thousands of seed donations arrive every year from academic, commercial and institutional scientists to be preserved in specialist facilities dedicated to long-term storage. All donations are stored, amplified and processed into our user-friendly on-line catalogue.
NASC is widely used and appreciated. More than 50,000 individual stocks sent per year since 2007, and greater than 100,000 individual stocks per year from 2013-2018 with a maximum so far of over 180,000 total seed tubes sent in one single year.
Our users range through applied crop, model organism and computational systems biologists. We are referenced in many publications as an underpinning resource for plant sciences, and we help scientists to receive essential arabidopsis materials in a very cost effective, straightforward, and efficient manner. We also have strong stable partnerships with the US stock centre (ABRC), and The Arabidopsis Informatics Resource (TAIR).
All this century we have charged a nominal fee per stock through willingness and ability to supplement our grant from cost recovery income. This has been used to employ temporary workers to match total BBSRC funded staff numbers as well as all consumables, travel, equipment and service contracts. Our BBSRC funding is thereby effectively subsidised for UK users by our foreign customers (particularly in Europe and East Asia).
This proposal covers both the informatics of the catalogue (e.g. germplasm curation and data distribution) as well as the physical distribution resource and would ensure continuity and stability in turbulent times.
Thousands of seed donations arrive every year from academic, commercial and institutional scientists to be preserved in specialist facilities dedicated to long-term storage. All donations are stored, amplified and processed into our user-friendly on-line catalogue.
NASC is widely used and appreciated. More than 50,000 individual stocks sent per year since 2007, and greater than 100,000 individual stocks per year from 2013-2018 with a maximum so far of over 180,000 total seed tubes sent in one single year.
Our users range through applied crop, model organism and computational systems biologists. We are referenced in many publications as an underpinning resource for plant sciences, and we help scientists to receive essential arabidopsis materials in a very cost effective, straightforward, and efficient manner. We also have strong stable partnerships with the US stock centre (ABRC), and The Arabidopsis Informatics Resource (TAIR).
All this century we have charged a nominal fee per stock through willingness and ability to supplement our grant from cost recovery income. This has been used to employ temporary workers to match total BBSRC funded staff numbers as well as all consumables, travel, equipment and service contracts. Our BBSRC funding is thereby effectively subsidised for UK users by our foreign customers (particularly in Europe and East Asia).
This proposal covers both the informatics of the catalogue (e.g. germplasm curation and data distribution) as well as the physical distribution resource and would ensure continuity and stability in turbulent times.
Organisations
People |
ORCID iD |
| Sean May (Principal Investigator) |
Publications
Almousa LA
(2022)
The Response of the Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cell Transcriptome to Variation in Magnesium Concentration.
in Nutrients
Branter J
(2022)
Genome-Wide Expression and Anti-Proliferative Effects of Electric Field Therapy on Pediatric and Adult Brain Tumors.
in International journal of molecular sciences
Morgan HL
(2022)
Paternal low protein diet perturbs inter-generational metabolic homeostasis in a tissue-specific manner in mice.
in Communications biology
Nagappan J
(2024)
Transcriptional effects of carbon and nitrogen starvation on Ganoderma boninense, an oil palm phytopathogen.
in Molecular biology reports
| Description | UKPGRG |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Participation in a guidance/advisory committee |
| Impact | The UK Plant Genetic Resources Group (UKPGRG) serves as the technical forum to discuss and implement the conservation and use of plant genetic resources in the UK. The broad membership includes both curators of ex situ plant genetic resource centres, those involved in in situ conservation, and representatives from non-governmental organisation, the commercial plant breeding sector and Universities. Botanic gardens, the Forestry Commission and statutory collections are also represented. The Group provides advice and technical support to Government Departments on technical and policy matters which relate to the UK or the UK's international role in the area of plant genetic resources. |
| URL | http://ukpgrg.org |
| Title | EURISCO |
| Description | EURISCO is a search catalogue providing information about ex situ plant collections maintained in Europe. It is based on a European network of ex situ National Inventories. Since 2014, EURISCO is hosted at and maintained by the Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK, Gatersleben, Germany) on behalf of ECPGR. ECPGR and other Central Crop Databases have been established through the initiative of individual institutes and of ECPGR Working Groups. The databases hold passport data and, to varying degrees, characterization and primary evaluation data of the major collections of the respective crops in Europe. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2014 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | We have shown commitment to a European wide catalogue of germplasm resources. This was brokered via the UKPGRG group and assisted by DEFRA. Our inclusion of more than 600,000 stocks makes a very strong statement about the relative support of the UK government to germplasm resources compared to our European neighbours. |
| URL | http://www.ecpgr.cgiar.org/resources/latest-news/news-detail/accessions-from-the-nottingham-arabidop... |
| Title | arabidopsis.info |
| Description | The NASC germplasm database holds data on just under 1 million stocks that have been acquired since the centre began in 1990/91. We replaced the Arabidopsis Information Service in Germany (1964 - 1987) and acquired all 200+ stocks from them. In 1999 this was increased to 20,000 and in 2013 passed the 800,000 mark. We hold genomic, genetic, phenotypic, passport, collection, images, and other sundry data about these stocks and make this information freely available to researchers and collaborators worldwide. As part of the database we run a cost-recovery catalogue for ordering stocks which includes user data and a fully developed e-commerce solution bespoke to NASC. We also integrate our data with exteral and internal databases using a variety of mathods from direct data exchange through dynamic URLs to fully fledged Web Services (SOAP and REST). |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | This database underpins the distribution of arabidopsis germplasm resources to the UK and European plant community. It also provides the same service to worldwide users in collaboration/complementarity with the US stock center ABRC. This has accelerated the ease of uptake of germplasm and data associated with these germplasm entities and supported arabidopsis and other plant research to make it one of the most productive model species. |
| URL | http://arabidopsis.info |