MWLR's Lincoln GEM lab played host in August
Manaaki Whenua's GEM lab played host in August to two molecular technicians from the Centre for Pacific Crops and Trees (CePaCT) in Suva, Fiji, Renuma Kumar and Sera Dau. CePaCT is part of Land Resources Division, The Pacific Community, a regional agency owned by 22 countries in the Pacific.
Renuma Kumar and Sera Dau, Centre for Pacific Crops and Trees (CePaCT) in Suva, Fiji.
CePaCT maintains the largest taro collection in the world and is collaborating with MWLR on testing taro accessions for viruses before distributing the healthy taro seedling to growers across the Pacific. Work is also underway to test the genetic diversity of the collection through genotyping to help identify which accessions that represent the majority of the diversity are best to send to growers.
Renuma and Sera are actively engaged in the maintenance of the taro tissue culture collection at CePaCT and prepare taro samples for testing.
CePaCT recently upgraded its molecular laboratory, significantly expanding its molecular space and acquiring new equipment to enable quicker sample analysis. The training was arranged to extend the molecular analysis skills of CePaCT staff by gaining experience in a big and busy research laboratory.
Ana Podolyan undertook the hands-on training in molecular techniques in the laboratory for virus screening and Caroline Mitchell carried out the laboratory and bioinformatic training involved with genotyping. Thanks to Carina Davis, the CePaCT technicians also learned about DNA extraction from soil.
Ana Podolyan and Sera Dau in the laboratory
Ana took Renuma and Sera through the whole process of virus indexing of taro samples from start to finish.
Overall, the training was a great success, says Ana. "Despite the samples being held up at the border, we were able to thoroughly cover every topic in our training program. Both Sera and Renuma already had some experience in molecular work so the training built on their existing skills. The GEM lab technicians absolutely enjoyed working alongside Renuma and Sera and were happy to share their tips for the best places to visit in Lincoln and Christchurch."
The last word goes to Sera and Renuma: "Our time in the GEM lab was very productive and efficient. We absolutely loved it and look forward to expanding our knowledge in this area. Everyone at MWLR was very accommodating during our training to the extent of assisting us with after-work and weekend activities and ensuring we were comfortable with everything, especially the cold winter weather! We would like to express our sincere appreciation and heartiest ‘Vinaka Vakalevu’ to Jane Lattimore, Gary Houliston, Ana Podolyan, and Caroline Mitchell for what has been an incredible learning opportunity."
CePaCT is a regional gene bank in the Pacific region
CePaCT is a regional gene bank in the Pacific region, safeguarding tissue culture collections of 18 different Pacific crops, their largest being taro (54%). Under the initiative of the PS4L program (led by Gary and Jane), CePaCT has now expanded and modernised its molecular laboratory where four full-time permanent staff now work. Two of these staff members have received a month-long training in molecular techniques (trained by Dr Ana Podolyan) and genotyping (trained by Caroline Mitchell) in 2022 at MWLR and have trained the rest of their CePaCT team themselves.
This additional training increased the capacity at CePaCT and sped up the work of collection screening (more than 2000 samples in the collection). Thanks to the PS4L progress, more than ¾ of the collection is now screened for diseases, 50% of it is cleaned and 30% is available for distribution to farmers around the region.
The recent trip involved training in a universal molecular technique led by Dr Ana Podolyan. She adapted this method for CePaCT and it will speed up screening the rest of the collection. This is likely to lead to discovery of new viruses in other Pacific crops. Also, this method was tested for its compatibility with the MinION sequencing platform, that CePaCT has already procured, further increasing their capability by allowing to do all their sequencing in-house.
Ongoing training in genotyping
Ongoing training in genotyping is led by Caroline Mitchell, and more sessions were presented during this visit, focusing on data analysis and interpretation. PS4L program leader Dr Gary Houliston, Program Leader for the Genetic Resources Logotonu Waqainabete and CePaCT’s Associate scientist Dr Amit Sukal planned the next steps for the PS4L, such as building on the progress so far and expanding the work into other Pacific countries as well as increasing the capability development in the region.
CePaCT and Manaaki Whenua working group (Semi Cakaunitavuki, Preeti Nand, Sera Dau, Dr Ana Podolyan, Associate Scientist Dr Amit Sukal, Renuma Kumar, PS4L program leader Dr Gary Houliston, Caroline Mitchell, Program Leader for the Genetic Resources Logotonu Waqainabete).Key contacts
Gary Houliston
