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ARS Home » Plains Area » Fort Collins, Colorado » Center for Agricultural Resources Research » Agricultural Genetic Resources Preservation Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #373288
Research Project: Efficient and Effective Preservation and Management of Plant and Microbial Genetic Resource Collections

Location: Agricultural Genetic Resources Preservation Research

Title: Safeguarding strawberry (Fragaria L.) genetic resources

Author
item Staats, Elise
item Jenderek, Maria
item Hummer, Kim

Submitted to: ASHS Centennial Conference
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/24/2020
Publication Date: 8/11/2020
Citation: Staats, E.R., Jenderek, M.M., Hummer, K.E. 2020. Safeguarding strawberry (Fragaria L.) genetic resources. ASHS Centennial Conference.

Interpretive Summary: N/A

Technical Abstract: In 2018, the US produced more than 1.4 billion pounds of strawberry, valued nearly $3.5 billion. The USDA National Plant Germplasm System maintains over 2000 strawberry (Fragaria spp.) accessions in 46 taxa for breeding, research, and educational purposes at the Corvallis, OR site. Plants of the genetic resources are kept in a greenhouse or under plastic covers where they are exposed to various stressors that could contribute to the loss of the resources. To secure the Fragaria core collection, selected accessions were preserved in liquid nitrogen (LN; -196oC) at the USDA National Laboratory for Genetic Resources Preservation, Fort Collins, CO. The preservation method involved excision of <2 mm shoot tips from aseptic, cold acclimated culture, soaking in a loading solution (MS+2.0 M glycerol+0.4 M sucrose; 20 min), dehydration in PVS2 [(75.0 g glycerol, 33.8 mL ethylene glycol, 34.1 mL DMSO, 34.25 g sucrose, 1.1 g MS vit) L-1] and plunging into LN 50 min later. After at least 24 h, the LN exposed and rewarmed cuttings were plated on a MS medium with vitamins, BA, sucrose and PVP [(4.43 g, 0.4 mg, 25.0 g, 1.0 g)/L-1 respectively]. The viability (number of propagules that developed small leaves and a shoot) was evaluated 4-6 weeks later. The project cryopreserved 276 genotypes (with 40 to 100% viability) that are stored in a secure vault for future use. Most of the preserved strawberry accessions belong to F. x ananasa (175), F. chiloensis (45) and F. virginiana (21).