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The System-wide Information Network for Genetic
Resources (SINGER) provides public access to
information about the collections of plant genetic
resources held in trust for the world community by
the CGIAR Centres.
Through SINGER, the information about the
collections held at eleven CGIAR genebanks around
the world is made available on the Internet from a
single entry point.
Find out how SINGER is:
Visit the
SINGER
website.
Meeting conservation commitments
The CGIAR Centres hold over 650,000 samples of crop,
forage and agroforestry species that are important
for food security and agricultural development,
particularly in the developing world. Rich in
farmers’ varieties and the wild and weedy species
related to crop plants, the collections represent a
huge reserve of diversity in traits to increase
yields, resist disease and adapt to climate change
for improving crops and farming today and for the
future.
Find out more about the
in-trust collections.
The Centres hold these samples in trust for the
world community under agreements signed with the
Governing Body of the
International Treaty on Plant
Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. What’s
more, the Centres have amassed a tremendous amount of
data on the origins, characteristics and performance
of each of these samples. The
agreements signed
between the Centres and the Treaty require Centres
to make all information on the in-trust collections
easily available, just as the material itself is
available.
SINGER was established under the auspices of the
SGRP to help Centres meet these responsibilities.
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Meeting users needs
The collections and the information about them are
held by the genebanks of eleven Centres that are
located across the world. SINGER allows the
databases on these dispersed and independently
managed genetic resources collections to be searched
simultaneously through a single entry point on the
Internet.
Through the
SINGER
website, researchers, plant breeders, farmers
and other users can search information on the
identity, origin and characteristics of the
individual accessions in the collections and can
search for samples with the traits that they need.
The information in SINGER is crucial to its
community of users. For example, knowledge of the
original source of the material and where it was
collected can help users to make more effective use
of the diversity. Knowing where samples were
collected has made it possible to restore local
varieties to regions devastated by war or natural
disasters.
SINGER contains some 30 years worth of records on
the supply of samples in response to requests from
individuals and from the research and plant
improvement programmes of Centres and national
institutions. Thus, SINGER is also a powerful tool
for tracking and analysing the movement of germplasm
around the world. It clearly demonstrates the
important role of genebanks as providers of global
crop diversity. Research on flows of accessions into
and out of CGIAR genebanks demonstrate that
virtually every country in the world benefits from
these plant genetic resources. Developing countries
have received the vast majority of the samples.
By showing in a comprehensive and completely
transparent way how CGIAR germplasm exchange has
been carried out to the advantage to all countries,
SINGER has a critical role to play in strengthening
and building support for the Multilateral System for
Access and Benefit-sharing for plant genetic
resources for food and agriculture as outlined in
the
International Treaty on Plant
Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture.
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Promoting standards and technologies
Standards are vitally important to ensure
compatibility among different sources of information
and thus to facilitate the management and exchange
of knowledge. SINGER promotes common data standards
worldwide to ensure that bridges can be built
between myriads of genetic resources information
sources now and in the future.
SINGER has tested and implemented a special software
known as Web Services--a technology that enables
users to directly search the databases maintained by
the Centres themselves, eliminating the need for the
replication of Centre data into a central SINGER
database. This is a much more efficient system that
gives people the power to examine all the Centre
databases, which are the most up-to-date sources of
information, at the same time.
SINGER is also tackling the complex issue of data
standards that will allow genomic data to be
associated with phenotypic characterization in the
framework of the
Generation Challenge Programme.
SINGER’s efforts to improve data standards and
protocols for the exchange of data that enable
“remote real time” searching, is thus poised to play
a focal role in the creation of a global network for
information on plant genetic resources collections.
SINGER has established strong partnerships with
other players, such as the
Nordic Gene Bank and the
US Department of Agriculture, and SGRP is continuing
to facilitate the collaborations necessary to bring
the vision of a global information network on plant
genetic resources collections to fruition.
Combining disparate sets of data – evaluation,
characterization, including molecular
characterization, geographic, pedigree and so on –
for individual accessions, the global network will
be an important contribution to the global
information system foreseen under the International
Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and
Agriculture.
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Contributing to
the development of a global information network
SINGER is now a driving force in information
networking both inside and outside the CGIAR,
meeting the needs of researchers, plant breeders,
farmers and conservers in their efforts to sustain
food security and improve production. It has
transformed itself from being simply a source of
information into a dynamic network that harnesses
expertise and information about genetic resources to
further the global exchange of information for
genetic resources conservation and use.
SINGER is committed to building links with other
genetic resource information systems around the
world and makes its expertise, tools and
infrastructure available to others to help them
establish their own genetic resource information
networks. The SINGER model, tools and expertise were
used in developing EURISCO – the portal to European
collections of plant genetic resources, released on
the Web in 2003. Go to the
EURISCO
website.
In 2005, information related to vegetable crop
diversity conserved at the World Vegetable Centre (AVRDC) was made available through
SINGER. The AVRDC genebank holds more than 50,000
accessions of 334 different species from 151
countries.
SINGER’s work to build links with other information
networks represents an important contribution to the
implementation of the International Treaty. Under
Article 17 of the International Treaty, The Global
Information System on Plant Genetic Resources for
Food and Agriculture, contracting parties agree to
cooperate to develop and strengthen a global
information system based on existing systems.
For more information, and to search SINGER go to the
SINGER website.
See also the
SINGER
brochure (1.2MB). |
