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BCAS Vol.24 No.4 2010 The Germplasm Bank of Wild Species, Southwest China LI Dezhu, YANG Xiangyun, WANG Yuhua & CAI Jie Kunming Institute of Botany, CAS, Kunming, 650204 G reen plants are the primary producers of ecosystems on Earth. However, plant diversity is currently being lost at an unprecedented rate, perhaps as much as 100- to 1000-fold higher than during the recent geological past, resulting in an associated decrease in ecosystem services, such as the provision of food, fuel, biochemicals and fiber. To meet the demand of plant diversity conservation, the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (2001–2010) was approved in Decision VI/9 of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity in 2002. Priorities have been set for threatened species and regions and for the development of protocols and models to enhance the conservation options for both crops and wild species; the remaining targets on plant diversity cover understanding, conservation, sustainable use, promotion of education and capacity-building for conservation action. Areas featuring exceptional concentrations of endemic species were identified as biodiversity hotspots and most A nationwide cooperative network for collecting germplasm of wild species has been set up in China. 264 Bulletin of the Chinese Academy of Sciences Vol.24 No.4 2010 A young scientist is conducting experiments at the plant genomics laboratory. of these are experiencing exceptional loss of habitat. China is megadiverse, with 31,000 species of vascular plants and harbors 4 (including Mountains of Southwest China, Mountains of Central Asia, Himalaya and Indo-Burma) of the 34 global biodiversity hotspots. Approximately two thirds of the vascular plant species of China are in the southwest, which is a region with the most endemic-rich temperate flora in the world, the center of distribution of many genera (e.g. Rhododendron and Primula [10]), and the location of an evergreen broadleaved forest ecosystem dominated by subtropical species of Fagaceae, Lauraceae, Theaceae and Magnoliaceae. China has been a fastest-growing nation for the past 30 years with an average annual GDP growth rate above 10%. The impact of economic growth on the environment and biodiversity are immense. As China is unique for a combination of one eighth of the entire world flora, the largest population and the fastest growing economy on Earth, conservation actions, both in situ and ex situ, will be of great significance at the global, regional and national level. As a major kind of renewable natural resources, biological resources are essential for the sustainable development of human society. Wild plants and animals can be the gene pools that shed light on the breeding of new cultivars, and are widely used as ingredients of natural medicines. Today, many countries in the world have set up germplasm banks to preserve and manage their biological resources. It is of high necessity and urgency to build up a germplasm bank in China and to conserve wild plant and animal species for the sustainability of the nation. In August 1999, WU Zhengyi (Cheng-yih Wu), a distinguished botanist and a Senior Member of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), wrote to then Chinese Premier ZHU Rongji and urged to set up a germplasm bank of wild species in southwest China’s Yunnan Province. Two years Germplasm Resources later, an official proposal and feasibility report was handed in by the provincial government of Yunnan and CAS to the central government. The construction of the germplasm bank to be based at the CAS Kunming Institute of Botany (KIB) was approved as a national large-scale scientific facility project in 2004, with a total investment of 148 million RMB (about US$22 million). While the construction was being undertaken, KIB scientists set out to collect, evaluate and preserve the germplasm of wild species across the nation. The bank was put into trial operation at the end of 2007, and officially opened in October 2008. The whole project passed national review and audit in November 2009. The bank will be developed into a world-leading facility for the study and preservation of germplasm resources of rare and endangered, endemic and economically important plants, animal species and microorganisms, so as to safeguard the bioresources of strategic significance in China, to provide germplasm material and relevant information needed in the biotech industry and life science research, to promote the industrialization of biotechnology and the sustainable development of economy, and to contribute to China’s fulfillment of the Conventions on Biological Diversity. A prior task of the bank is to collect as many as 66,500 accessions of 6,450 endangered and endemic species and those of potential scientific or economic values in the bank’s five subordinate sections – the seed bank, the in vitro plant germplasm bank, the microbial germplasm bank, the DNA bank and the animal germplasm bank by 2010. By 2020, the bank’s preservation will stand at 190,000 accessions for 19,000 species. With the support of a nation-wide network of universities, research institutions and natural reserves, KIB staff had achieved the first phase of target by the end of The building of the Germplasm Bank of Wild Species (GBOWS). Bulletin of the Chinese Academy of Sciences 265 BCAS Vol.24 No.4 2010 Workers with the Germplasm Bank of Wild Species (GBOWS) are gathering seeds on the Tibetan Plateau. 2009. After processing and standardization, the seed bank now holds plant seeds of 166 families, 1,337 genera and 4,781 species which account for 16.72% of the country’s entire native flora of flowering plants. Among them, 1,339 species are endemic to China, 73 are endangered and 1,235 of potential economic values. The botanists have also collected 49,580 germplasm specimens representing 437 species of living plants, 13,805 animal germplasm materials representing 354 species, 8,359 samples of 1,119 microorganism species, and 11,025 DNA samples of 1,200 plant species. With the help of information technology, researchers have standardized the relevant information of the germplasm materials and submitted them into a database which now contains information for 31, 985 accessions of seeds, 11,808 DNA samples, 78,384 voucher herbarium specimens as well as 78,142 images. The bank’s website (http://www. genobank.org) facilitates the management and sharing of germplasm information, as 37,124 relevant data and 43,821 images are now open to public users. To guide field collection, the botanists have also compiled the Digital Dictionary of Yunnan Flora which is made up of nearly 1 million articles of records for 433 families, 3,000 genera and 16,000 species of plants in the province of Yunnan. The germplasm bank in southwest China has promoted the establishment of a nationwide network for the collection and preservation of germplasms. The network covers a vast area from the southwest, northwest to central, north and east China, and pools efforts from 58 universities and research 266 Bulletin of the Chinese Academy of Sciences institutes with more than 600 professionals. The bank is also actively coordinating some 13 natural reserves across the nation, and 450 personnel have been trained for standardized collection of germplasm materials of wild species. Since the construction of the bank was kicked off, KIB researchers have been carrying out major scientific programs on, for instance, piloting the standardization of the collection and conservation of germplasm materials of important wild species and data sharing, the investigation and preservation of wild plants on the Tibetan Plateau, and the research on DNA barcoding of plants based on the germplasm bank. KIB scientists have also used the germplasm bank to A staff is processing the seeds collected from field investigation. Vol.24 No.4 2010 promote the industrialization of bioresources, especially the breeding and transformation of new varieties of ornamental plants, and the development and transformation of new biomedicines. For instance, the floriculture is a key industry in Yunnan Province. KIB, with its particular research and advantages in this area, has provided technical support for the development of local enterprises, and enhanced the competitiveness of their products by transfer of patents, newly bred cultivars and relevant technologies. On the whole, the project is a very positive and necessary step toward the conservation of the diverse wild species in China. Strong economic growth and concerns about climate change have compelled CAS to support this important conservation initiative. The bank is taking representative genetic diversity by population sampling of seeds of higher plants to ensure the conservation of adequate genetic variation for restoration and for future use. As the focus is on the preservation of indigenous and non-cultivated species, they could prove to be pest resilient, conducive to crop cultivation on marginal lands, as well as the new sources of medicines and biofuels. As far as we know, only a narrow range of species have been kept in seedbanks while tens of thousands of others are being used by indigenous people. Without this project we may be in danger of losing those genetic resources in China. As the largest of its kind in Asia, the bank won immediate international recognition. Upon inauguration, it received 204 accessions of seed samples from the Millennium Seed Bank of Royal Botanic Garden, Kew, UK. It has also welcomed 365 samples of forest tree seeds from the World Agroforestry Center. By far, it has exchanged 1,875 samples of seeds with overseas partners. Although five years of endeavor has led to a successful completion of the initial goal, the long-term target of preserving 19,000 species and 190,000 accessions of Germplasm Resources The seeds are processed and kept in cold rooms for long-term storage. germplasms within the next ten years is still arduous enough for KIB staff. They are also thinking about shifting the focus from collecting sufficient samples. For them, to preserve germplasm materials of 10,000 more species in the coming decade is a most challenging but significant work to do. Bulletin of the Chinese Academy of Sciences 267