On the results of the Conference “VIR – 130: Plant Genetic Resources” (November 5-9, 2024, St. Petersburg)

On November 8 (October 27), 1894, the Bureau of Applied Botany was created under the Scientific Committee of the Ministry of Agriculture and State Property of the Russian Empire. The Bureau is the predecessor of VIR, a world-famous institute, the director and organizer of which was our famous compatriot Nikolai Ivanovich Vavilov. It was with the Bureau of Applied Botany that the scientific and technological creation and provision of the food shield of our country began – the famous Vavilov collection of genetic resources of cultivated plants. The conference "VIR-130: Plant Genetic Resources" was held on November 5-9, 2024 in St. Petersburg. The conference served as a platform for discussing the most pressing issues of preserving the genetic resources of cultivated plants and their wild relatives today – from the need to prepare new regulatory acts at the federal level to successes in domestic breeding of various crops and strengthening the role of genetics in ensuring food and technological security of Russia. The conference included a series of 10 events and round tables designed to cover the entire breadth of modern areas of work with collections of plant genetic resources and their application in fundamental science, agriculture, medicine, and industry.

Separate events were dedicated to outstanding plant researchers – associates of N.I. Vavilov: G.D. Karpechenko, N.N. Ivanov, A.I. Maltsev, as well as our contemporaries. In total, more than 180 oral reports were presented at the events. The Conference ended on November 8 with a ceremonial session and an extended video lecture “Genetic Resources of Russia: Scientific and Cultural-Historical Heritage”, organized by the Presidential Library jointly with the Vavilov All-Russian Institute of Plant Genetic Resources (VIR) as part of the “Knowledge of Russia” series.

The lecture brought together more than 300 in-person participants and more than 1,500 online. The sessions and round tables held, the discussion of the reports showed that the research carried out in the field of conservation, study and use of plant genetic resources at the modern level meet the directions set by the Strategy for Scientific and Technological Development of the Russian Federation (approved by Decree of the President of the Russian Federation No. 145 dated February 28, 2024), the national development goals of the Russian Federation (defined by Decree of the President of the Russian Federation No. 309 dated May 07, 2024), the tasks of the Doctrine of Food Security of the Russian Federation (Decree of the President of the Russian Federation No. 20 dated January 21, 2020) and correspond to critical and end-to-end technologies (designated by Decree of the President of the Russian Federation No. 529 dated June 18, 2024).

1. Chief Researcher of the VIR Genetics Department Boris Rigin is 90! (Glavnomu nauchnomu sotrudniku otdela genetiki VIR Borisu Riginu – 90 let!). Nauchnyy Peterburg = Scientific Petersburg. 2024;December:21. [in Russian]

2. Federal Law No. 428-FZ “On Bioresource Centers and Biological (Bioresource) Collections and on Amendments to Article 29 of the Federal Law “On the Animal World” dated November 30, 2024 (Federal'nyi zakon “O bioresursnykh tsentrakh i biologicheskikh (bioresursnykh) kollektsiyakh i o vnesenii izmeneniy v stat'yu 29 Federal'nogo zakona “O zhivotnom mire” ot 30.11.2024 № 428-FZ). 2024. [in Russian]. URL: http://publication.pravo.gov.ru/document/0001202411300018 [дата обращения: 28.12.2024].

3. Iwanoff N.N. (editor-in-chief). Biochemistry of cultivated plants. Vol. 1-7. Moscow; Leningrad: Selkhosgiz; 1936-1940. [in Russian]

4. Karpechenko G.D. Theory of remote hybridization (Teoriya otdalennoy gibridizatsii). Moscow; Leningrad: Selkhosgiz; 1935. [in Russian]

5. Khlestkina E.K. Intravital formation of the properties of plants – sources of raw materials for polymers with specified characteristics. In: Climate-2024: modern approaches to assessing the impact of external factors on materials and complex technical systems: Proceedings of the IX All-Russian scientific and technical conference dedicated to the 110th anniversary of the birth of Doctor of Technical Sciences, Professor Liya Yakovlevna Gurvich (Klimat-2024: sovremennyye podkhody k otsenke vozdeystviya vneshnikh faktorov na materialy i slozhnyye tekhnicheskiye sistemy: sbornik dokladov IKH Vserossiyskoy nauchno-tekhnicheskoy konferentsii, posvyashchennoy 110-letiyu so dnya rozhdeniya d.t.n., professora Lii Yakovlevny Gurvich); 2024, September 27; Moscow, Russia. Moscow: NRC «Kurchatov institute» – VIAM; 2024. p.47-57. [in Russian]

6. Khlestkina E.K., Shumny V.K., Nizhnikov A.A., Tikhonovich I.A. On the anniversary of Academician Lyubov Vladimirovna Khotyleva. Plant Biotechnology and Breeding. 2023;6(1):39-46. [in Russian]. DOI: 10.30901/2658-6266-2023-1-o4

7. Kilchevsky A.V., Khotyleva L.V. (sci. eds). Genetic Basis of Plant Breeding (Geneticheskiye osnovy selektsii rasteniy). In 4 volumes. Minsk: Belarusian navuka; 2008-2014. [in Russian]

8. Kilchevsky A.V., Khotyleva L.V. (sci. eds). Genetic Basis of Plant Breeding (Geneticheskiye osnovy selektsii rasteniy). In 4 volumes. Vol. 1-2. 2nd ed. Minsk: Belarusian navuka; 2018-2020. [in Russian]

9. Maltsev A.I. Atlas of the most important species of weeds of the USSR. Atlas vazhneyshikh vidov sornykh rasteniy SSSR). Vol. 1. Moscow; Leningrad: Selkhozgiz; 1937. [in Russian]

10. Maltsev A.I. Atlas of the most important species of weeds of the USSR. (Atlas vazhneyshikh vidov sornykh rasteniy SSSR). Vol. 2. Moscow; Leningrad: Selkhozgiz; 1939. [in Russian]

11. On Approving Priority Areas of Scientific and Technological Development and the List of Major Knowledge-Intensive Technologies. Executive Order of the President of the Russian Federation No. 529 dated June 18, 2024. The official internet-portal of legal information (Russian Federation). 2024с. [in Russian]. URL: http://publication.pravo.gov.ru/document/0001202406180018 [дата обращения: 28.12.2024].

12. On Approving the Program of development of the National Center for Plant Genetic Resources for 2023-2030 (Ob utverzhdenii Programmy razvitiya Natsional'nogo tsentra geneticheskikh resursov rasteniy na 2023–2030 gody): Order of the Government of the Russian Federation dated September 16, 2023 No. 2496-р. The official internet-portal of legal information (Russian Federation). 2023. [in Russian]. URL: http://publication.pravo.gov.ru/document/0001202309190026?ysclid=mau4c5d96m383812177 [дата обращения: 28.12.2024].

13. On Approving the Food Security Doctrine of the Russian Federation (Ob utverzhdenii Doktriny prodovol'stvennoy bezopasnosti Rossiyskoy Federatsii): Decree of the President of the Russian Federation No. 20 dated January 21, 2020. The official internet-portal of legal information (Russian Federation). 2020. [in Russian]. URL: http://publication.pravo.gov.ru/Document/View/0001202001210021 [дата обращения: 28.12.2024].

14. On the National Center for Plant Genetic Resources (O Natsionalnom tsentre geneticheskikh resursov rasteniy): Decree of the President of the Russian Federation No. 44 dated February 8, 2022. The official internet-portal of legal information (Russian Federation). 2022. [in Russian]. URL: http://publication.pravo.gov.ru/Document/View/0001202202080014 [дата обращения: 28.12.2024].

15. On the National Development Goals of the Russian Federation for the Period up to 2030 and for the Perspective up to 2036 (O natsional'nykh tselyakh razvitiya Rossiyskoy Federatsii na period do 2030 goda i na perspektivu do 2036 goda): Decree of the President of the Russian Federation No. 309 dated May 07, 2024. The official internet-portal of legal information (Russian Federation). 2024b. [in Russian]. URL: http://publication.pravo.gov.ru/document/0001202405070015 [дата обращения: 28.12.2024].

16. On the Strategy of Scientific and Technological Development of the Russian Federation (O Strategii nauchno-tekhnologicheskogo razvitiya Rossiyskoy Federatsii): Decree of the President of the Russian Federation No. 145 dated February 28, 2024. The official internet-portal of legal information (Russian Federation). 2024a. [in Russian]. URL: http://publication.pravo.gov.ru/document/0001202402280003 [дата обращения: 28.12.2024].

17. St. Petersburg scientists took part in the development of the law on bioresource collections (Peterburgskiye uchenyye prinyali uchastiye v razrabotke zakona o bioresursnykh kollektsiyakh). Nauchnyy Peterburg = Scientific Petersburg. 2024;December:10. [in Russian]

18. The Weeds of USSR: A guide to the determination of the weeds of USSR. Vol. 1. B.A. Keller, V.N. Lubimenko, A.I. Malzev, B.A. Fedtschenko, R.J Roshevitz, K.V. Kamensky (eds). Leningrad: USSR Academy of Sciences Publ.; 1934a. [in Russian]

19. The Weeds of USSR: A guide to the determination of the weeds of USSR. Vol. 2-3. B.A. Keller, V.N. Lubimenko, A.I. Malzev, B.A. Fedtschenko, B.C. Schischkin, R.J. Roshevitz, K.V. Kamensky (eds). Leningrad: USSR Academy of Sciences Publ.; 1934b. [in Russian]

20. The Weeds of USSR: A guide to the determination of the weeds of USSR. Vol. 4. B.A. Keller, V.N. Lubimenko, A.I. Malzev, B.A. Fedtschenko, B.C. Schischkin, R.J. Roshevitz, K.V. Kamensky, M.M. Iljin (eds). Moscow; Leningrad: USSR Academy of Sciences Publ.; 1935. [in Russian]

21. Video lecture entitled “Plant Genetic Resources: Scientific, Cultural and Historical Heritage”. Presidential Library: official page of the group of the Russian social network VK. [in Russian]. URL: https://vk.com/video-30658717_456239990?ysclid=ma75gcdfom381074322 Дата публикации: 08.11.2024.

22. VIR – 130: Plant Genetic Resources: On the 130th anniversary of the establishment of the Bureau of Applied Botany under the Scientific Committee of the Ministry of Agriculture and State Property of the Russian Empire: Conference Proceedings; 2024 November 5-9; St. Petersburg, Russia; E.K. Khlestkina (gen. ed.). St. Petersburg: VIR; 2024. [in Russian]