The Arabidopsis Biological Resource Center (ABRC) has been serving the plant research community since 1991 by collecting, preserving, amplifying and distributing seed and DNA resources of Arabidopsis thaliana (Arabidopsis) and related species. These include diverse DNA libraries, full-length cDNA collections, insertion mutant seed populations, seed collections representing global natural variation, as well as genome editing resources. The ABRC's long-term goals are: 1) to continue to enlarge and expand the collection though acquisition of new resources, 2) to store, amplify and distribute new types of resources based on the needs of the community, 3) to increase the efficiency of the operation, to provide higher quality service with a continued low stock price, 4) to provide free access to curated stock information, and 5) to continue to generate, collect and distribute teaching and education outreach kits, to facilitate an integrated plant biology education both locally and nationally.
This award will facilitate the transfer of ownership of two large legacy seed collections, generated through previous NSF funded research. The Center will curate, amplify and distribute novel seed stock collections that have been donated by two retiring or re-orienting Arabidopsis researchers, Dr. David Meinke and Dr. Robert Last. The information from these legacy collections (about 20,000 records) will be integrated within the existing ABRC database infrastructure, in addition to securing, curating and amplifying the physical collections for approximately 6,500 stocks. These collections are larger and more complex to curate and maintain than the stocks normally accepted and this project will support their timely inclusion into the larger ABRC collection. The addition of the Last and Meinke legacy collections also presents an opportunity for the ABRC to highlight these acquisitions through the creation of new education resources and unique, hands-on experiences for K-16 students, educators and the general public. This will include the development of two new Greening the Classroom education modules that include stocks from the legacy collections, and a public hands-on laboratory experience involving "citizen scientists" who will assist in the identification of defective seed from the Last collection.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
