Each year, the IMAGE Dialogue Forum has gathered representatives of policy makers, NGOs and academics. One outcome was a contribution to the delegate act on ‘Germinal products’ of the new EU Animal Health regulation, in order to allow for national derogations for gene banks. A review on Access and Benefit Sharing provided a guideline on how to interpret the Nagoya Protocol for gene banks. An ethical survey provided insight on acceptance of new technologies and supported the complementarity between in situ and ex-situ conservation of livestock populations.
A framework has been proposed for rationalization of gene bank collections, the main criterion being to maximise cost-effectiveness for current and future users. A gene bank should define its strategy in cooperation with its stakeholders. National case studies were used to illustrate rationalisation aspects. Gap analysis revealed an insufficient conservation efforts for local breeds. Economic optimization showed that enhanced cooperation between European gene banks could decrease the overall cost of gene banking for a given number of breeds.
New protocols for reproductive biotechnologies were validated: improvements in the semen cryopreservation process; biological predictors of semen quality based upon new proteic or proteomic markers or upon integrity assessment of nucleic acids. New marker genes were highlighted to assess embryo quality in pigs. Significant progress with primordial germ cells (PGCs) and transfer of gonadic tissues was achieved in chickens with application to the preservation of local breeds in Hungary and France.
The molecular variation detected by genotyping and sequencing led to new knowledge: (i) detection of genes important for adaptation to environmental variation with landscape genomics (ii) identification of functionally relevant polymorphisms and causal mutations for morphological traits in chickens (iii) distinction between old and recent selection signatures in cattle (iv) monitoring of inbreeding in local breeds under a conservation programme. A multi species SNP array incorporating neutral, functional and ancestral markers was developed in order to map genetic diversity.
The IMAGE web portal integrates data from gene banks and collections with genomics data, geographical information systems data, and other information generated by IMAGE. The diversity browser is a stand-alone tool, computing principal component analysis (PCA) of a reference dataset and a batch of samples of interest. An interactive web interface is provided to guide the use of genetic material.
A generic geneflow concept has been developed to feature any breeding or conservation program. The simulation software MoBPS (Modular Breeding Program Simulator) is publicly available as an R-package with a graphical user interface. It was successfully applied to the introgression of a new trait (blue egg shell color) taken from a local breed into a high-performing layer line, and to the optimization of the conservation of a Colombian cattle breed. A new method for a time-series analysis showed the usefulness of long term gene bank collections for the detection of selection signatures.
The major outcomes were presented at the final scientific conference of IMAGE and were assembled to propose an update of the FAO guidelines for cryoconservation. Training sessions took place in third countries and in Europe: eight courses were organized overall, with 239 trainees from 36 countries.
IMAGE organized two sessions at the EAAP conference, one was devoted to synergies with other H2020 projects from the same Common Dissemination Booster, Fitter Livestock Farms. The usefulness of gene banks was presented at the Animal Task Force meeting on adaptation of livestock to climate change. IMAGE published its policy brief at the end of 2019.
