Description

GnpIS is a multispecies integrative information system dedicated to plants and crop parasites. It integrates and links genetic, genomic, phenomic and environmental data into a single environment, allowing researchers to store, query and explore information from different angles.

In 2012, the Ecology and Biodiversity department (ECODIV) of the  French National Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment (INRAE) decided to use GnpIS as its referential information system to manage forest tree genetic, genomic and phenomic data. The project "Forest tree GnpIS" was born.

The forest tree resources are accessible through the GnpIS web portal . Its main entry point is a google-like search, a tool using keywords for data discovery. The bird’s eye view obtained allows navigation through the data with dedicated tools facilitating more specific queries and data retrieval from the database. Cards were developed to gather all representative information on major elements (accession, trial, marker and such). This information system is regularly improved with new functionalities answering specific needs raised by scientists and released several times a year.

Data are supplied by local sources (files, databases …) produced and managed by research teams working on forest trees. Workflows are implemented to automate data flow: 1) data insertion in GnpIS from local sources, 2) data extraction from GnpIS and insertion into international information systems. The aim is to make visible and to valorize these data.

The main priority is to integrate the data produced within the common garden network of INRAE (over 1,000 trials with genotypes gathered from ~15 species) in the phenotypes and genetic resources modules.