[PCA] ARTICLE: A diverse portfolio: Seed bank works to protect genes of WNC plants

[Prescott, Leah]

From: Smoky Mountain News
By Holly Kays

"Since taking on the project in early 2008, McCoy, Ph.D., has built from
the ground up a program that now includes three labs and the lofty mission
of conserving, studying and identifying uses for the region’s proliferation
of native plant species.

“It serves numerous purposes,” McCoy said of the seed bank, called the N.C.
Arboretum Germplasm Repository. “It’s long-term conservation, it’s economic
development, it’s finding nutritive compounds for potential growers in the
region to grow as crops. It can be drug discovery. It can be endophyte
discovery. The whole collection turns into a research tool.”

"This isn’t just seed banking for year-to-year,” McCoy said. “This is seed
banking for long-term.”"

Read more:
http://www.smokymountainnews.com/outdoors/item/24204-a-diverse-portfolio-seed-bank-works-to-protect-genes-of-wnc-plants

-- 
Leah Prescott
Bureau of Land Management
Plant Conservation Program Data Coordinator
202-912-7232

National Seed Strategy for Rehabilitation and Restoration
<https://www.blm.gov/programs/natural-resources/native-plant-communities/national-seed-strategy>
Plant Conservation Alliance <http://www.plantconservationalliance.org/>
Seeds of Success
<https://www.blm.gov/programs/natural-resources/native-plant-communities/native-plant-and-seed-material-development/collection>
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