Press release

Both a legacy of domestication and agriculture, and a lever for new knowledge and innovations adapted to our current and future needs, genetic resources are a veritable bridge between our past and our future. This large family includes plants, animals and micro-organisms. But what do we do with them? Why do we need to care about them? Dive into the heart of genetic resources.

Discover the activities and resources of the RARe infrastructure, whose agronomic BRCs are at the heart of major research issues for the future. RARe brings together animal, environmental, plant, microbial and forest biological resources, with the support of the research organizations INRAE, CIRAD and IRD. This special issue "Innovations in Agricultural Resources for Research" presents a sample of the immense diversity of RARe resources.

PRESS RELEASE - Biodiversity is essential for ecosystem resilience, food security and health. It is a precious heritage and a common good that must be preserved for its own sake, but also for the ecosystem services on which human societies depend. But the multiplication of pressures linked to human activities, aggravated by climate change, have led to a decline in biodiversity. In this context, INRAE's research concerns many environments, from mountains to coasts, including forests, aquatic environments, and agroecosystems. Scientists are working to better understand biodiversity and its dynamics, and to develop, with local stakeholders, solutions to preserve and restore biodiversity and manage environments in a sustainable manner.

The Atlas français des champignons du sol was published in April 2024 by BIOTOPE and Publications Scientifiques du MNHN. This original work presents the composition, organization and distribution of soil fungal communities. It represents a breakthrough in our knowledge of soils, and is part of a general drive to meet the challenge of soil conservation over the coming decades.

Almost all the vanilla sold worldwide comes from a single species: Vanilla planifolia. The limited genetic variability of cultivated vanilla makes the sector particularly vulnerable to climate and health risks. In publishing the sequence for 83% of the Vanilla planifolia genome, a research consortium coordinated by CIRAD Réunion has paved the way for more effectively targeted, faster creation of new varieties.

An international study involving CIRAD and INRA, published in the journal Nature on 7 February 2018, is revolutionizing the botanical classifications of citrus fruits.