International cooperation

ECPGR working group on leafy vegetables

Working group of representatives from countries within the European region focusing on various leafy vegetable crops, including lettuce. Activities of the working group include the development of agreed minimum descriptors lists for morphological analysis and the development and maintenance of international databases with accession information. Within the framework of the ECPGR project 'AEGIS', aiming at the establishment of a virtual European collection, agreed minimum standards for operational genebank procedures are under development as well as the nomination of candidate accessions for the European collection.

The Compositae Genome Project

Collaborative genomics project on economically and taxonomically important species in the Compositae, including lettuce. Objectives include the development of comprehensive gene catalogs, genomic sequences, detailed genetic maps and bioinformatics tools, which are available from the project website.

LettuceKnow, Science-Based Improvement of Salad

Research programme using large-scale transcriptomics, cutting-edge phenotyping and integrative bioinformatics approaches to develop resilient and sustainable varieties that are adapted to changing climate conditions, emerging disease threats and technological growth innovations such as vertical farming and LED illumination. The programme, which is carried out by a consortium of academic partners and breeding companies, started in 2019 and is funded by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO).

Cooperation between CGN and the Beijing Genomics Institute

Cooperation between the Centre for Genetic Resources, the Netherlands (CGN) and the Beijing Genomics Institute (BGI, Shenzhen, China) to sequence CGN’s entire lettuce collection. Sequence data are publicly available.