New integrative data portal for brilliant brassicas
12 May 2016

Scientists at the Earlham Institute (EI) have released the first web repository for Brassica (mustard plants) trait data to tackle reproducibility, user controlled data sharing and analysis worldwide.
Scoring the versatile crop’s beneficial traits will assist Brassica breeders in improving their crop yields, increased nutritional benefits and reduce our carbon footprint through biofuel production.
The Brassica Information Portal (BIP), is being developed with a uniquely collaborative Brassica research community. Increasing the visibility of existing research, the open-access Portal will store all data from previous and future pre-breeding trait scoring experiments performed on Brassica species
The BIP presents a
The Brassica genus contains versatile vegetable, forage and crop plants that exuberates many valuable attributes for public consumption and the environment. The innovative new data portal hosts information about how, for example, rapeseed responds to different experimental conditions to identify beneficial genetic traits.
Significant to the consumer, these findings will increase the production and quality of the Brassica vegetables, and decrease costs in biofuels through using rapeseed for biodiesel production.
Annemarie Eckes, Research Assistant in the Integrative Genomics Group at EI, said: “Thanks to this database, traits from pre-breeding trials are made more accessible and can be used for improving existing varieties. Breeding of improved varieties means that we can have very nutritious
Facilitating research projects for population genomics and breeding information, the database will enable scientists to store and
Using new traits for marker assisted selection, Brassica breeders will be able to decrease the input of
Additional data that will be collected in the Portal includes information to make rapeseed contain much more oil used for biofuel production. This will reduce our carbon footprint by decreasing the UK’s fossil fuel emissions, and raise energy supplies.
This can all be done with conventional breeding methods, drawing from the list of genetic traits associated with plants in the new Brassica genus database.
With climate change impacting the UK with both droughts and floods, new pests arriving and thriving, old varieties may not be as resilient to these changes in the environment as newly bred ones. It is important to understand and create the diversity of the vegetables we eat to select the best individuals for creating new varieties to ensure these vegetables will also be on our plates in the future.
Annemarie Eckes, added: “The database will be a powerful tool for the breeders to select for new traits important for the future changes. At the same time, they need to produce a reliable amount at appropriate prices for society; to guarantee food and energy security and a healthy diet.”
“With all trait information in one place, and linked with genomics data, many new connections between the plant’s traits and responses in different experiments can be drawn, that was previously not possible. This database can, therefore, encourage integrative, big data analysis, which has become a crucial part of today’s Science.
“At the same time, it is a perfect example of collaborative work across
The further database design and content curation involved Sarah Ayling, co-lead on BIP project (EI), Tomasz Gubała, Piotr Nowakowski (Spectrum IT), Martin Trick, Judith Irwin and Rachel Wells (John Innes Centre), RIPR,
Web-based analytics for the BIP is developed in collaboration with the Clark Group (EI), and Ian Bancroft (University of York). Anil
See our blog on 'Brilliant Brassica' to find out more about its benefits and the importance of the BIP to science, agriculture, industry and us!
Notes to editors
For more information, please contact:
Hayley London
Marketing & Communications Officer, Earlham Institute (EI)
- +44 (0)1603 450 107
The Earlham Institute (EI) is a world-leading research institute focusing on the development of genomics and computational biology. EI is based within the Norwich Research Park and is one of eight institutes that receive strategic funding from Biotechnology and Biological Science Research Council (BBSRC) - £6.45M in 2015/2016 - as well as support from other research funders. EI operates a National Capability to promote the application of genomics and bioinformatics to advance bioscience research and innovation.
EI offers a state of the art DNA sequencing facility, unique by its operation of multiple complementary technologies for data generation. The Institute is a UK hub for innovative bioinformatics through research, analysis and interpretation of multiple, complex data sets. It hosts one of the largest computing hardware facilities dedicated to life science research in Europe. It is also actively involved in developing novel platforms to provide access to computational tools and processing capacity for multiple academic and industrial users and promoting applications of computational Bioscience. Additionally, the Institute offers a training programme through courses and workshops, and an outreach programme targeting key stakeholders, and wider public audiences through dialogue and science communication activities.
The Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) invests in world-class bioscience research and training on behalf of the UK public. Our aim is to further scientific knowledge, to promote economic growth, wealth and job creation and to improve quality of life in the UK and beyond.
Funded by Government, BBSRC invested over £509M in world-class bioscience in 2014-15 and is the leading funder of wheat research in the UK (over £100M investment on UK wheat research in the last 10 years). We support research and training in universities and strategically funded institutes. BBSRC research and the people we fund are helping society to meet major challenges, including food security, green energy and healthier, longer lives. Our investments underpin important UK economic sectors, such as farming, food, industrial biotechnology and pharmaceuticals.
For more information about BBSRC, our science and our impact see: http://www.bbsrc.ac.uk For more information about BBSRC strategically funded institutes see: http://www.bbsrc.ac.uk/institutes