A comprehensive review on the worldwide efforts for the ex-situ
preservation (for example in botanical gardens and seed banks) of vanilla
genetic resources was recently presented by researchers in France.
Vanilla is a member of the orchid plant family. According to authors
Severine Bory and colleagues, results of studies dealing with the taxonomy,
reproductive biology and diversity of vanilla, specifically Vanilla
planifolia, suggest the urgent need for conserving the genetic resources of
the species.

Commercial vanilla flavoring is extracted from the vanilla species V.
planifolia. Various factors, which include over-collection in the wild and
deforestation, led to the extinction of wild populations of the species.
Bory?s group recommends that maintenance of germplasm in field or in vitro
collections in genebanks is essential in perpetuating the existing genotypes
to make them available for vanilla breeding and production. They added that
collaborative international efforts should help protect vanilla in its area
of origin, where it is highly endangered.

For more information, subscribers may access the review article
published in Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution at
[www.springerlink.com].