EPPO Workshop on Maintenance of Nematode Collections

Wageningen (NL), 2017-09-05/06

A Workshop on Maintenance of Nematode Collections was organized with the Dutch National Reference Centre of the NPPO and held on the 2017-09-05/06 at NVWA, Geertjesweg 15, 6706 EA, Wageningen (NL). The need for the Workshop had been identified by the Panel on Diagnostics in Nematology, based on discussions following the Q-collect project on requirements for general guidance for nematology collections. The Workshop was attended by 29 participants from 15 countries.

Workshop participants

Organisation of the Workshop

The Workshop started with a plenary session with presentations from participants about the maintenance of their collections and on two international projects on collections.

The EUPHRESCO project on life collections of cysts and root knot nematodes, Ms Den Nijs (NPPO, NL)
Nematode collections at the NPPO (NL), Mr Karssen (NPPO, NL)
French Plant Health Laboratory: maintenance of Nematode collection, Mr Ollivier (ANSES, FR)
Status quo of the German Nematode Collection, Mr Hallmann (JKI, DE)
Curation & Maintenance of the Rothamsted Nematode collection held at Fera, Mr Prior (Fera, GB)
Maintenance of Globodera in Mecklenburg Western Pomerania- Requirements and possibilities, Mr Kruse (Mecklenburg- Western Pomerania Plant Protection Service, DE)
EPN and Bursaphelenchus spp in CREA collection, Ms Landi (CREA, IT)
First Collection of plant parasitic nematodes in Spain for Efficacy Trials – NEVAL, Ms Santander (NEVAL, ES)
Preservation of Bursaphelenchus xylophilus isolates and troubles in the timely and flawless preparation of inoculum, Ms Inácio (INIAV, PT)
Maintenance of nematode collections at ILVO, Belgium, Ms Viaene (ILVO, BE)
Rearing and maintaining of PCN populations from Austria at AGES, Ms Gabl (AGES, AT)
National Nematode collection of CNRF-SENASICA from México, Mr Torres (CNRF-SENASICA, MX)
DNA sequence collection at CNR-IPSP: a resource for nematode identification, Ms De Luca (CNR-IPSP, IT)
Q-collect recommendations, Ms Petter (EPPO)

Participants split into 3 groups to visit the Dutch collection. These consisted of the in planta collections in the greenhouses, the in vitro cultured collections in the laboratories and the slides collections. The database Nematode Collection Europe (acronym: NCE), in which NVWA (NL), University of Ghent (BE), JKI (DE) and Fera (UK) are partners, was presented together with the slide collections.

Guidelines on maintenance of nematodes reference material

The main elements to be covered in a Standard were identified including the different types of collections (live/dead/in silico), their maintenance, culturing and storage, purification and the metadata that should be available on biological material.

Other exchange of information

Topics that arose in the questions on presentations and visits to the collections were noted for further discussion and participants also suggested practical topics that they considered of importance. These were discussed in three small groups, in order to exchange experiences on particular difficulties, and summaries were presented to the whole group. The topics covered were:

Exchange of material
Renewal frequencies.
Hosts/varieties to be used to maintain live populations
Requirements for reference material (including need to maintain genetic diversity in populations)
How to avoid fungal infestation in collections

Follow-up after the Workshop

Nineteen of the workshop participants agreed to send the Standard Operating Procedures on maintaining collections from their laboratories (translated into English or French) to the EPPO Secretariat by the end of 2017. After this they will be used by an Expert Working Group, to draft an EPPO Standard on maintenance of nematode reference material.

The EPPO Secretariat would like to thank our hosts in particular Ms Den Nijs, Mr Karseen, Ms Bor, Ms van Heese, Ms van Bruggen for their excellent assistance in the preparation and running of the Workshop and leading the visits of the collections.