Conclusions after the 1st Workshop on Cucurbit Genomics
IBMB-CSIC, Barcelona, 30th June-1st July 2005
The 'Laboratori de Genčtica Molecular Vegetal CSIC-IRTA' has organized in Barcelona the first Workshop on Cucurbit Genomics. Although there are several International Congresses dealing with different aspects of cucurbits research (Eucarpia, Cucurbitaceae), it is the first time that a meeting exclusively related with genomics in this group of species is organized.
Maybe this is the reason why many research groups working with genomic-related topics in this vegetable family attended the Workshop. 97 participants attended the Workshop, with researchers from France, Israel, USA, Japan, Spain, The Netherlands and Poland. It is also important to note the high number of participants from seed companies, with 30 participants from 15 companies (Semillas Fitó, Western Seed, Zeta Seed, Clause Tézier, De Ruiter Seeds, Enza Zaden, Gautier, Keygene, Nunhems, Rijkzwaan, Sakata, Seminis, Syngenta and Takii), which represent the majority of cucurbit seed business in the world.
The cucurbit family contains species like melon, watermelon, cucumber and squash, among others. China is the main world producer for all cucurbits. The main objective for the organization of the Workshop has been the establishment of an International Cucurbit Genomics Initiative, in order to reach more ambitious genomic objectives that can not be started with the resources available in a single country. For example, since 2004 there is in Spain a public Melon Genomics Project from the 'Acción Integrada de Genómica y Proteómica' (GEN2003-20237-C06), which integrates five national research teams (IBMB-CSIC Barcelona, IRTA Cabrils, Dept. Biotecnología UPV, CEBAS-CSIC Murcia, Informática UPV). A similar initiative in melon is also present in Israel.
The Workshop consisted in 7 scientific sessions in which some of the attendants showed their recent research results and their future directions. It was clear that melon is the species with more public research resources (the vast majority of presentations have been in melon research, only two in cucumber and one in watermelon). The meeting was started with an overview of cucurbit genomic initiatives already started in Israel, France, Japan, USA and Spain (we have also established contacts with researchers from China after the Workshop). The oral presentations covered mapping, gene isolation, mutagenesis, metabolomics, ESTs, bioinformatics, virus resistance, fruit quality traits and genetic transformation, among other topics. At the same time we also organized two round tables. The first round table had participants from each of the private seed companies attending to the Workshop, where they discussed their genomic interests and their implications on a global initiative. There was also an industry meeting in which the seed companies decided to provide the initial funding for a cucurbit genome project. The second round table discussed the creation of an International Cucurbit Genomics Initiative at the academic level.
The main conclusions after two days of Workshop were:
1.We decided to set up the International Cucurbit Genomics Initiative (ICGI), with the following Steering Committee members:
Pere Puigdomenech (Laboratori de Genčtica Molecular Vegetal CSIC-IRTA, Spain)
Nurit Katzir (ARO, Israel)
Michel Pitrat (INRA Avignon, France)
Jack Staub (University of Wisconsin, USA)
Hiroshi Ezura (University of Tsukuba, Japan)
Jordi Garcia-Mas (Laboratori de Genčtica Molecular Vegetal CSIC-IRTA, Spain) (Secretary)
China may also join the Steering Committee (Yong Xu, NERCV, China)
