Nottingham Arabidopsis Stock Centre
Encyclopedia
The Nottingham Arabidopsis Stock Centre (NASC) provides seed and information resources to the International Arabidopsis Genome Project
and the wider research community. It is based in the School of Biosciences at the University of Nottingham
's Sutton Bonington Campus, in the English county of Nottinghamshire
.
It holds more than 300,000 different stocks of seed representing over half a million genotypes and provides a Bioinformatics
and Genechip service. It is one of only two Arabidopsis thaliana
stock centres worldwide. Whenever a new mutant
or line
of Arabidopsis thaliana is created, scientists donate samples to NASC where they are maintained and thus are made available to scientists worldwide.
It was established in April 1991 as part of the Plant Molecular Biology initiative of the Agricultural and Food Research Council (AFRC). The Centre is funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC).
The Stock Centre was founded by Dr Bernard Mulligan; Directed from 1991 to 1999 by Dr Mary Anderson and from 1999 - present by Prof. Sean May.
NASC's activities are coordinated with those of the Arabidopsis Biological Resource Center, (ABRC) based at Ohio State University
, USA and managed by Dr. Randy Scholl (retiring in 2009). This facilitates a unified and efficient service for the research community.
The stock centres have a distribution agreement. NASC distributes to Europe
and ABRC distributes to the Americas. Laboratories in other locations may establish their primary affiliation with either centre.
Genome project
Genome projects are scientific endeavours that ultimately aim to determine the complete genome sequence of an organism and to annotate protein-coding genes and other important genome-encoded features...
and the wider research community. It is based in the School of Biosciences at the University of Nottingham
University of Nottingham
The University of Nottingham is a public research university based in Nottingham, United Kingdom, with further campuses in Ningbo, China and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia...
's Sutton Bonington Campus, in the English county of Nottinghamshire
Nottinghamshire
Nottinghamshire is a county in the East Midlands of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west...
.
It holds more than 300,000 different stocks of seed representing over half a million genotypes and provides a Bioinformatics
Bioinformatics
Bioinformatics is the application of computer science and information technology to the field of biology and medicine. Bioinformatics deals with algorithms, databases and information systems, web technologies, artificial intelligence and soft computing, information and computation theory, software...
and Genechip service. It is one of only two Arabidopsis thaliana
Arabidopsis thaliana
Arabidopsis thaliana is a small flowering plant native to Europe, Asia, and northwestern Africa. A spring annual with a relatively short life cycle, arabidopsis is popular as a model organism in plant biology and genetics...
stock centres worldwide. Whenever a new mutant
Mutant
In biology and especially genetics, a mutant is an individual, organism, or new genetic character, arising or resulting from an instance of mutation, which is a base-pair sequence change within the DNA of a gene or chromosome of an organism resulting in the creation of a new character or trait not...
or line
Lineage (evolution)
An evolutionary lineage is a sequence of species, that form a line of descent, each new species the direct result of speciation from an immediate ancestral species. Lineages are subsets of the evolutionary tree of life. Lineages are often determined by the techniques of molecular systematics.-...
of Arabidopsis thaliana is created, scientists donate samples to NASC where they are maintained and thus are made available to scientists worldwide.
It was established in April 1991 as part of the Plant Molecular Biology initiative of the Agricultural and Food Research Council (AFRC). The Centre is funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC).
The Stock Centre was founded by Dr Bernard Mulligan; Directed from 1991 to 1999 by Dr Mary Anderson and from 1999 - present by Prof. Sean May.
NASC's activities are coordinated with those of the Arabidopsis Biological Resource Center, (ABRC) based at Ohio State University
Ohio State University
The Ohio State University, commonly referred to as Ohio State, is a public research university located in Columbus, Ohio. It was originally founded in 1870 as a land-grant university and is currently the third largest university campus in the United States...
, USA and managed by Dr. Randy Scholl (retiring in 2009). This facilitates a unified and efficient service for the research community.
The stock centres have a distribution agreement. NASC distributes to Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
and ABRC distributes to the Americas. Laboratories in other locations may establish their primary affiliation with either centre.