Svalöf Weibull AB
SE-268 81 Svalöv, Sweden
Since the latest overall coordinator's report in Barley Genetics Newsletter Volume 28, no important changes of the coordinators have taken place. I do hope that most of you will continue with this work and provide us with all new information you can find and get from other researchers about the chromosomes, linkage groups and collections over the year. In this connection I want to stress that all information is of great importance for the barley community. Many younger researchers are dealing with molecular genetics and using many of the new techniques. Here the coordinator for "Integrating Barley Molecular and Morphological/Physiological Maps" has a very important task and responsibility following all the information in the literature and up-date the maps. I am also aware of that many of the coordinators especially some of them involved in collections do not find it worth while writing any reports as no research work is carried on or no seed requests are done. They actually want to resign but I convinced them to continue until the next International Barley Genetics Symposium in 2000. These problems should be taken under consideration and discussed during the meetings.
Also in this issue the order of the reports of the seven barley chromosomes have been arranged according to the new resolution made at the Seventh International Barley Genetics Symposium in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, in 1996. Probably most of you have noticed the publication of the special issue of Barley Genetics Newsletter, BGN 26, where about 450 new and revised descriptions of different morphological and physiological traits are published. Some several new and revised descriptions are also presented in BGN 28 and in this issue. Every year current lists of new and revised BGS descriptions by BGS number and by locus symbol in alphabetic order will be published. All information on description location, recommended locus names and symbols, previous gene symbols, chromosomal location, and the primary genetic stock numbers are included in these lists.
All this information is also available through the Internet at the following addresses:
Unhappily the incorporation and conversion of the BGS descriptions into the International Triticeae Genome Database "GrainGenes" according to the ACEDB format is still in progress and will hopefully be fulfilled during the next months of 1999. Also the feeding of images illustrating the different morphological/physiological loci is still in progress. Some new pictures have again been taken during the last summer season of 1998.