Day 2: National Laboratory for Genetic Resources Preservation by Ashley

At the last stop of day 2, we met Ms. Jennifer Kendall at the National Laboratory for Genetic Resources Preservation, who talked to us about seed preservation and storage, as well as biodiversity. This Laboratory is located in Fort Collins, Colorado, where they study, preserve, and store a large variety of plant, animal, insect, and microbial material. Colorado is one of the best places to store these specimens due to Colorados dry weather. This dry weather makes it easier to keep things dry and control the storage facilities to the exact conditions they need to effectively store the seed. Ms. Kendall explained that this facility was funded by a land grant and the USDA. She also explained how This facility is protected from change in government and can keep its work going despite differing political opinions.  

 

In 1958, The National Laboratory for Genetic Resources Preservation was established. During this time many things were dried and stored in metal cans. As research has developed, seed was stored in paper wax bags. In 1970 a genetics explosion occurred, and research was booming. This was prior to all gene selection. Then in 1989 animal seed and samples were incorporated. Now, in recent times, the lab is starting to incorporate vacuum sealed bags into the storage process.  

 

The National Laboratory for Genetic Resources Preservation works to support U.S. agriculture in high-quality food, fiber, and animal offspring by researching the genetic code, best ways to preserve and store the seed for hundreds of years. “Why is this important?” In the face of a natural disaster, economic crisis, or even war time, this organization ensures the survival and safety of our resources as well as maintaining biodiversity in our environments. Not only does the National Laboratory for Genetic Resources Preservation support the United States agricultural industry but also many nations around the world. There are many facilities such as this one all around the world that act as a vault for all kinds of different seed from all kinds of different regions and countries. Infact all these facilities share seed and ship them out to farmers or other researchers in efforts to secure biodiversity and learn from the historical genetic code.  

 

As we made it down to the secure part of the building that contained all of these seeds, Ms. Kendall said there was 1.2 million seed collections and over 700,000 different species in the vault. This includes sperm, egg/embryos, seeds, gonads, oocytes, invertebrates, pollen, spores, dormant buds, and tissue cultures.  

 

She also explained the different ways of storing these seeds, some of which included cold and dry storing, liquid nitrogen, and liquid nitrogen vapor. Each specimen is unique and requires different storage needs in order to stay alive but dormant for hundreds of years. Specimens such as plant seeds have to be dried down before stored in temperatures as low as -18*C. While specimens such as sperm cells must be frozen in liquid nitrogen almost immediately upon collecting to ensure most of  the sperm cells survive. The most fragile specimen to preserve in the vault is the tree cuttings. Due to the leaves, the cutting can not be fully frozen in liquid nitrogen because the plant cells could shatter when the water within the leaf freezes. Ms. Kendall explained how water is the biggest challenge when preserving the seed that is collected. If too much water is taken out the specimen can die.  In fact there is a whole research team that figures out what best method to preserve and store the seed. By collecting and preserving these seeds they can ensure these specimens are not lost to time and history, as well as better understanding the past.  

 

As discussed previously, this facility ships and receives seed from many different nations. When they receive seed, it gets put into a special type of storage called the black box. This means that the seed they receive can not be used or shipped out again for twenty years.  

 

As Ms. Kendall showed us around the facility, we saw most everything the seed was stored in, including the specific conditions. We all really enjoyed this stop on our ag tour and definitely would have stayed longer If we had the time. We learned many fascinating things that many of us including the general public didn’t know about.