To fully exploit this potential, a highly developed infrastructure is required for the management of genetic resources. As for barley, the IPK-Genebank hosts the world barley core collection comprising 2,000 accessions. These are complemented by additional 10,000 characterized accessions including land races, wild forms, and members of the secondary and tertiary genepools. For mapping purposes three major populations will be provided which cover highly diverse genetic backgrounds to maximize the chance of mapping any given marker. In addition to a large number of AFLP markers, each of the corresponding maps comprises about 500 RFLP markers of which more than 100 are in common and permit the integration of information obtained from either map.
All populations consist of doubled haploid progeny plants.
Apart from an increased efficiency in data handling, the centralized collection of mapping data will ensure that all information, which is obtained in the context of GABI, will be made available to all partners involved in the program and that no information will be lost. In case additional mapping populations of barley will be required as a resource, they may be included into this scheme. Reasons are the ease of DNA preparation from BAC clones, their higher stability and less chimerism within their inserts. With an average insert size of approx. 100 kbp and 300,000 individual clones ordered in microtiter plates, this library covers the barley genome six times.