Genebanks Could Be Storing the Wrong Seeds

Scientists at the Netherlands' Center for Genetic Resources led by Mark van de Wouw, have examined the extent of the problem of non-authenticity of old cultivars in genebank collections. Large lettuce collections from a Dutch genebank were sampled and DNA from seeds which bear the same cultivar name were analyzed. The results of the DNA analysis showed that many supposedly identical seeds did not match and levels of non-authenticity were as low as 10%, even in newer cultivars.

Mark van de Wouw expressed his surprise when he said "From my experiences with other genebanks I did suspect there might be a problem with the authenticity of the seeds that was sent out to users, but I did not realize the problem to be this large. Although current procedures in the genebank avoid to a large extent that new mistakes are being made, the level of mislabeling in the past has apparently been high. It is obvious that systematized efforts need to be made to check the authenticity of the heirloom cultivars in genebank collections."

The original news can be seen at https://www.crops.org/news-media/releases/2011/0308/460/