Germplasm repository

Gene banks are a type of biorepository that preserves genetic material. For plants, this is done by in vitro storage, freezing cuttings from the plant, or stocking the seeds (e.g. in a seedbank). For animals, this is done by the freezing of sperm and eggs in zoological freezers until further need. With corals, fragments are taken and stored in water tanks under controlled conditions. Genetic material in a 'gene bank' is preserved in a variety of ways, such as freezing at -196° Celsius in liquid nitrogen, being placed in artificial ecosystems, and put in controlled nutrient mediums.

Accession is the common term given to an individual sample in a gene bank, such as a distinct species or variety.

In plants, it is possible to unfreeze the material and propagate it. However, in animals, a living female is required for artificial insemination. While it is often difficult to use frozen animal sperm and eggs, there are many examples of it being done successfully.

In an effort to conserve agricultural biodiversity, gene banks are used to store and conserve the plant genetic resources of major crop plants and their crop wild relatives. There are many gene banks all over the world, with the Svalbard Global Seed Vault being considered the most famous one.

The database of the largest gene banks in the world can be queried via a common website, Genesys. A number of global gene banks are coordinated by the CGIARbr>Genebank Platform

Types of gene banks

Seed bank

A seed bank preserves dried seeds by storing them at a very low temperature. Spores and pteridophytes are conserved in seed banks, but other seedless plants, such as tuber crops, cannot be preserved this way. The largest seed bank in world is the Millennium Seed Bank housed at the Wellcome Trust Millennium Building (WTMB), located in the grounds of Wakehurst Place in West Sussex, near London.

In vitro bank

In this technique, buds, protocorm and meristematic cells are preserved through particular light and temperature arrangements in a nutrient medium, which is either jellified or in liquid form. This technique is used to preserve seedless plants and plants that reproduce asexually or that require preservation as clones such as commercial cultivars.

Cryobank

In this technique, a seed or embryo is preserved at very low temperatures. It is usually preserved in liquid nitrogen at -196 °C. This is helpful for the conservation of species facing extinction. Cryobanks are utilized for the cryoconservation of animal genetic resources’’Cryoconservation of Animal Genetic Resources.’ ‘Rep. Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2012. FAO Animal Production and Health Guidelines No. 12. Print.

Storage of pollen

This is a method in which pollen grains are stored. Using this technique, plants with one set of chromosomes can be made. The pollen is stored in liquid nitrogen. This method is useful for crossbreeding.

Field gene bank

This is a method of planting plants for the conservation of genes. For this purpose, an ecosystem is created artificially. Through this method, one can compare the differences among plants of different species and can study them in detail. It needs more land, adequate soil, weather, etc. Germplasm of important crops are conserved through this method. 42,000 varieties of rice are conserved in the Central Rice Research Institute in Orissa.

See also

* Sperm bank
* Ova bank
* Biobank
* Biological database
* Germplasm
* Seed bank
* Plant genetic resources

References

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* 174 p.
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External links

AEGIS A European Genebank Integrated System

The Crop Genebank Knowledge Base

Genebanks

Genesys

DAD-IS: Domestic Animal Diversity Information System
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