International Musa Germplasm Transit Centre
The Bioversity International Musa Germplasm Transit Centre (ITC) is hosted at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium, and is home to the world’s largest collection of banana diversity.
The collection includes more than 1,500 accessions of cultivated and wild species of banana. The accessions are kept in vitro under slow growth conditions at 16°C. For security, samples are frozen in liquid nitrogen at –196°C. Such cryopreserved material can be conserved indefinitely and revived into full banana plants as needed. In addition, this frozen collection is safety duplicated at the Institut de recherche pour le développement (IRD) in Montpellier, France.
The Laboratory of Plant Pathology from Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech (Liège University, Belgium) provides virus-indexing and plant health services. Virus negative material is freely available for international distribution upon request from the MGIS website, which holds passport data on all ITC accessions. Samples are accompanied by a health statement, phytosanitary certificate and a copy of the Standard Material Transfer Agreement.
ITC collaborates widely with partners in many locations around the world through the Musa Genetic Resources Network (MusaNet).
Key Staff
Head of Genetic Resources: Nicolas Roux
Genebank Manager: Ines Van den Houwe
Cryopreservation Specialist: Bart Panis
Key performance indicators of CGIAR genebanks, 2012-2018
HINT: Use the search key to filter the data. For descriptions of performance indicators, click here.| Indicator | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total number of accessions | 1,455 | 1,479 | 1,518 | 1,544 | 1,546 | 1,566 |
| Total number of accessions that are currently available | 897 | 897 | 938 | 957 | 980 | 987 |
| Number of seed accessions | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - |
| Number of vegetatively-propagated accessions | 1,455 | 1,479 | 1,518 | 1,544 | 1,546 | 1,566 |
| Number of live plant accessions | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Number of seed accessions held in long-term storage and safety duplicated at two levels | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - |
| Number of vegetatively-propagated accessions in cryopreservation or safety duplicated as in vitro | 801 | 801 | 801 | 924 | 921 | 1,079 |
Genebank operations, 2012-2018
HINT: Use the search key to filter the data| Indicator | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number accessions received | 30 | 43 | 22 | 5 | 20 | 66 | |
| Number accessions regenerated | 3 | 0 | 20 | 46 | 27 | 17 | 65 |
| Number accessions multiplied | 1,209 | 1,226 | 1,184 | 1,361 | 1,213 | 2,864 | 3,096 |
| Number accessions health tested | 17 | 78 | 0 | 0 | 40 | 44 | 27 |
| Number accessions cleaned | 20 | 9 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 77 | 23 |
| Number accessions viability tested | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Number of samples distributed to users within and outside the CGIAR, 2012-2018
HINT: Use the search key to filter the data. For descriptions of performance indicators, click here.| Indicator | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of samples distributed within the CGIAR | 177 | 61 | 118 | 0 | 67 | 11 |
| Number of samples distributed outside the CGIAR | 1,009 | 644 | 1,032 | 860 | 551 | 445 |
| Total number of samples distributed | 1,186 | 705 | 1,150 | 860 | 618 | 456 |
| Number of accessions distributed within the CGIAR | 177 | 61 | 118 | 0 | 64 | 11 |
| Number of accessions distributed outside the CGIAR | 532 | 431 | 693 | 617 | 537 | 438 |
| Total number of accessions distributed | 709 | 492 | 811 | 617 | 601 | 449 |
Publications by Bioversity genebank staff in 2018
Recent publications with at least one CGIAR genebank staff as author. HINT: Use the search key to filter the data.| Authors | Article title | Publication name | URL |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sinnesael, A., Eeckhout, S., Janssens, S., Smets,E., Panis, B., Verstraete, B. | Detection of Burkholderia in the seeds of Psychotria punctata (Rubiaceae) – Microscopic evidence for vertical transmission in the leaf nodule symbiosis. | PLoS One | READ |
| Ellis, D., Escobar, R., Gueye, B., Panis, B., Vollmer, R., Popova, E. | Cryobanking clonal crops: When knowledge and practice are not the same. | Cryobiology, Abstracts of CRYO2018 | READ |
| Němečková, A., Christelová, P., Čížková, J., Nyine, M., Van den houwe, I., Svačina, R., Uwimana, B., Swennen, R., Doležel, J. and Hribová, E. | Molecular and cytogenetic study of east African highland banana. | Frontiers of Plant Science | READ |
| Sardos, J., Christelová, P., Čížková, J., Paofa, J., Sachter-Smith, G. L., Janssens, S. B., Rauka, G. , Ruas, M. , Daniells, J. W.,Doležel, J.,Roux, N. | Collection of new diversity of wild and cultivated bananas (Musa spp.) in the autonomous region of Bougainville, Papua New Guinea. | Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution | READ |
| Rouard, M., Droc, G., Martin, G., Hueber, Y., Sardos, J., Guignon, V., Cenci, A., Geigle, B., Hibbins, M., Yahiaoui, N., Baurens, F., Berry, V., Hahn, M., D’Hont, A., Roux, N. | Three new genome assemblies support a rapid radiation in Musa acuminata (wild banana). | Genome Biology and Evolution | READ |
| Halewood, M., Lopez Noriega, I., Ellis, D., Roa, C., Rouard, M., Sackville Hamilton, R. | Using genomic sequence information to increase conservation and sustainable use of crop diversity and benefit-sharing. | Biopreservation and Biobanking | READ |
Publications by Bioversity genebank staff in 2017
Recent publications with at least one CGIAR genebank staff as author. HINT: Use the search key to filter the data.| Authors | Article title | Publication name | URL |
|---|---|---|---|
| Max Ruas, V. Guignon, G. Sempere, J. Sardos, Y. Hueber, H. Duvergey, A. Andrieu, R. Chase, C. Jenny, T. Hazekamp, B. Irish, K. Jelali, J. Adeka, T. Ayala-Silva, C.P. Chao, J. Daniells, B. Dowiya, B. Effa effa, L. Gueco, L. Herradura, L. Ibobondji, E. Kempenaers, J. Kilangi, S. Muhangi, P. Ngo Xuan, J. Paofa, C. Pavis, D. Thiemele, C. Tossou, J. Sandoval, A. Sutanto, G. Vangu Paka, G. Yi, I. Van den houwe, N. Roux, M. Rouard | MGIS: managing banana (Musa spp.) genetic resources information and high-throughput genotyping data. | Database | READ |
| Al-Idrus, A., Carpentier, S.C., Ahmad, M.T., Panis, B., Mohamed, Z. | Elucidation of the compatible interaction between banana and Meloidogyne incognita via high-throughput proteome profiling. | PLoS ONE | READ |
| De Clerck, C., Crew, K., Van den houwe, I., McMichael, L., Berhal, C., Lassois, L., Haissam Jijakli, M., Roux, N., Thomas, J. and Massart, S. | Lessons learned from the virus indexing of Musa germplasm: insights from a multiyear collaboration. | Annals of Applied Biology | READ |
