22
The National BioResource Project
in Japan
Masatsugu Hashiguchi and Ryo Akashi
Abstract
The objective of the National BioResource Project (NBRP) in Japan is to
collect, conserve, and distribute biological materials for life sciences
research. The project consortium of 28 core facilities of animal, plant,
microorganisms, and DNA resources, and an information center. NBRP
LotusandGlycineaims to support the development of legume research
through the collection, conservation, and distribution of these bioresources.
Lotus japonicusis a perennial legume that grows naturally throughout
Japan and is widely used as a model plant for legumes because of such
advantages as its small genome size and short life cycle. Soybean (Glycine
max) has been cultivated as an important crop since ancient times, and
numerous research programs have generated a large amount of basic
research information and valuable genetic resources for this crop. We have
also developed“LegumeBase”a specialized database for the generaLotus
andGlycineand are maintaining this database as a part of the NBRP.22.1 Introduction
The family Fabaceae (formerly Leguminaceae) is
one of the most morphologically diverse taxa
consisting of over 20,000 species divided into
730 genera (Doyle and Luckow 2003 ). This
agronomically and ecologically important group
of plants is responsible for much of the plant-
associated biological nitrogenfixation and con-
tains major food-producing crops including
soybean (Glycine max), pea (Pisum sativum),
azuki bean (Vigna angularis), and sources of
traditional medicines, such asAstragalusspecies.
The genusLotusconsists of more than 200 spe-
cies with the greatest diversity occurring in the
Mediterranean.Lotus japonicus(Japanese trefoil)
is distributed across East and Central Asia,
including Japan, Korea, and China, extending
west into Afghanistan (Pajuelo and Stougaard
2005 ).L. japonicuswas initially proposed as a
legume research model due to its small genome
(472 Mb) (Ito et al. 2000 ), generation time of 3– 4
months, small plant size, large and abundant
flowers, easy hand pollination, high levels of
seed production, easy cultivation, and amena-
bility toAgrobacterium-mediated transformation
(Handberg and Stougaard 1992 ). Furthermore,M. HashiguchiR. Akashi (&)
Faculty of Agriculture, University of Miyazaki,
Miyazaki 889-2192, Japan
e-mail: [email protected]
S. Tabata and J. Stougaard (eds.),The Lotus japonicus Genome, Compendium of Plant Genomes,
DOI 10.1007/978-3-662-44270-8_22,©Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2014
245