A proposal of establishment of stock centers - a lesson from Arabidopsis research

A collection of DNA samples and voucher specimens requires a special effort, not only during the initial collection of sets of DNA samples and corresponding voucher specimens, but also in the curation of the collection. If we have some centers to which we can donate collections of DNA samples, and if those centers distribute them to researchers worldwide, effective molecular characterization of plants can be carried out. We may be able to donate not only general collection of DNA samples but also personal collections of DNA samples and voucher specimens to recognized herbaria. As a researcher of a model plant, Arabidopsis thaliana, I imagine the Arabidopsis Biological Resource Center (ABRC) and the Nottingham Arabidopsis Stock Centre (NASC) to be ideal models of resource centers for genomic DNA. Researchers of Arabidopsis genetics have continued to deposit their own research materials, such as mutants, transgenics and DNA clones, to these stock centers and have made these biological resources on A. thaliana a valuable, worldwide resource. The deposited seeds of mutants and transgenic lines of A. thaliana have been amplified in these centers and have been distributed to researchers on request. Original paper(s) report on how each mutant and transgenic line was established, and these data can be searched in databases in the stock centers. These centers greatly accelerated research on A. thaliana, as we have seen. It is a good lesson for other types of studies, so, I wish to briefly review the history of the Arabidopsis stock centers, based on several references (Anderson, 1991; The Multinational Science Steering Committee, 1991; Cherry, 1994), before discussing the possibility of establishing a stock center for molecular phyllogenetic studies of other plants.

　The Nottingham Arabidopsis Stock Centre was established at the University of Nottingham (UK) by Dr. Bernard Mulligan. It is an Arabidopsis seed center that is funded by the UK Agricultural and Food Research Council and the European Community BRIDGE Program. The core seed stock was derived from the mutant and marker line collection established by the pioneer Arabidopsis researcher, Dr. Maarten Koornneef (Wageningen Agricultural University, Netherlands), and from T-DNA tagged insertion lines established by Dr. Csaba Konzc (Max-Planc-Institut für Züchtungsforschung, Germany). Simultaneously, the American Resource Center was planned and established in the United States with the support of the U.S. National Science Foundation. The two stock centers work in close association with each other, providing an international resource network for assistance research of A. thaliana. The NASC officially opened its doors to worldwide researchers on 2 April 1991. By requesting donations of mutants, transgenics and DNA clones of A. thaliana, these centers have continued to increase in size. By freely and opely distributing their resources to researches, they greatly helped in the growth of Arabidopsis research. A. thaliana has become a hot target of research in the plant sciences, and resulted in more than 3,382 original papers written in English in a year, 2004 (data from Web of Science, http:// isi01.isiknowledge.com/).

　Parallel to the establishment of the infrastructure in the research centers, informatics on Arabidopsis research was improved. Printed information on Arabidopsis research was published by Dr. Albert Kranz (University of Frankfurt, Germany) as the Arabidopsis Information Service and in the AFRC PMB Arabidopsis Newsletter by Dr. David Flanders and Dr. Caroline Dean (John Innes Centre, UK). Those media were gradually converted to electronic format and with all other databases of Arabidopsis research made available in the AAtDB project at Massachusetts General Hospital, USA and in the AIMS database at Michigan State University, USA. These databases accumulate and provide information on all aspects of Arabidopsis research, including data on genetic and physical maps, genomic and protein sequences, phenotype descriptions of known mutants, researchers of A. thaliana, experimental protocols, and on the availability of biological resources in the above-mentioned two stock centers. They are now integrated as The Arabidopsis Information Resource (TAIR: http://www. Arabidopsis.org/).

　Based on the above, I would like to propose that plant taxonomists worldwide make an effort to establish similar stock center(s) of genomic DNAs of plants. Considering convenience, such centers should be duplicated in two distant areas, as ABRC and NASC. Those centers may be independent from established herbaria (but not necessarily independent organizations). Each collection should be vouchered by a specimen deposited in an established herbarium. Centers will be required to release electronic information on their collections, and to distribute the DNA material when requested. Since DNA samples are limited research resources, rules or standards for distribution will be required. If possible, the centers, in collaboration with established herbaria, should release images via their websites of the voucher specimens from which their DNA was obtained. Collaboration between herbaria and stock centers via websites should be possible, considering computerization of duplicate herbarium specimens in multiple herbaria has been already carried out (e.g., Smith et al., 2003). Such centers will advance our understanding of the diversity of plants.