Wheat Data Management and the WheatIS

As we start to enter the post genomics era, there continues to be a data explosion, revolutionising how we study biology and translate biological research for applied crop improvement. There is a growing requirement to coordinate the management if this data and the structuring of data to facilitate logical interrogation – a key challenge for bioinformatics. International organisation and cooperation for data management is essential if we are to meet the challenge of increasing food production to meet the growing global population under predicted climate change scenarios. The wheat information system (www.wheatis.org) executive working group, part of the G20 supported international wheat initiative, aims to assist wheat researchers around the world to coordinate their data management and facilitate data access and interrogation for applied wheat crop improvement. I will present an overview of some of the challenges of managing diverse wheat data and the aims of the wheat information system team.