Gene bank
Encyclopedia
Gene banks help preserve genetic material, be it plant or animal. In plants, this could be by freezing cuts from the plant, or stocking the seed
s. In animals, this is the freezing of sperm
and egg
s in zoological
freezers until further need. With corals, fragments are taken which are stored in water tanks under controlled conditions.
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 utilize 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 probably the most famous one.
Seed
A seed is a small embryonic plant enclosed in a covering called the seed coat, usually with some stored food. It is the product of the ripened ovule of gymnosperm and angiosperm plants which occurs after fertilization and some growth within the mother plant...
s. In animals, this is the freezing of sperm
Sperm
The term sperm is derived from the Greek word sperma and refers to the male reproductive cells. In the types of sexual reproduction known as anisogamy and oogamy, there is a marked difference in the size of the gametes with the smaller one being termed the "male" or sperm cell...
and egg
Ovum
An ovum is a haploid female reproductive cell or gamete. Both animals and embryophytes have ova. The term ovule is used for the young ovum of an animal, as well as the plant structure that carries the female gametophyte and egg cell and develops into a seed after fertilization...
s in zoological
Frozen zoo
A frozen zoo is a storage facility in which genetic materials taken from animals are gathered and thereafter stored at very low temperatures for optimal preservation over a long period of time...
freezers until further need. With corals, fragments are taken which are stored in water tanks under controlled conditions.
In plants, it is possible to unfreeze the material and propagate it, however, in animals, a living female is required for artificial insemination
Artificial insemination
Artificial insemination, or AI, is the process by which sperm is placed into the reproductive tract of a female for the purpose of impregnating the female by using means other than sexual intercourse or natural insemination...
. While it is often difficult to utilize frozen animal sperm and eggs, there are many examples of it being done successfully.
In an effort to conserve agricultural biodiversity
Agricultural biodiversity
Agricultural biodiversity is a sub-set of general biodiversity. It includes all forms of life directly relevant to agriculture: rare seed varieties and animal breeds , but also many other organisms such as soil fauna, weeds, pests, predators, and all of the native plants and animals existing on...
, 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
Svalbard Global Seed Vault
The Svalbard Global Seed Vault is a secure seedbank located on the Norwegian island of Spitsbergen near the town of Longyearbyen in the remote Arctic Svalbard archipelago, about from the North Pole. The facility preserves a wide variety of plant seeds in an underground cavern. The seeds are...
being probably the most famous one.