The updated database will periodically be copied to the master plant database being organized at USDA's National Agricultural Library. The master database is intended as the resource for general public access. The Albany site will also provide molecular biological support to mapping and map utilization. Persons involved in the project are establishing a repository of probes and clone libraries of the Triticeae, with initial emphasis on wheat. The repository, to be supervised by Susan Altenbach, will serve as both permanent storage and at least initial distribution of probes and libraries.
Plans are to exchange probes and duplicate the repository at other sites world wide.
Data Coordinators Participants in the project have identified some specific areas that require data assembly and organization, and, as a result, have selected subject-area coordinators. Many areas are overlapping and will require input from several areas of expertise. ITMI is an international group with the purpose of facilitating the mapping and dissemination of resulting data of important members of the grass tribe Triticeae, which includes wheat, rye, barley, ancestral species, and related wild grasses. To facilitate the collation of data produced by different laboratories in different countries, seven members of ITMI have agreed to serve as coordinators for the seven linkage groups. Perry Gustafson, ARS, University of Missouri, is coordinating the rye genome map.