World-Class Gene Bank in Doha Soon

Doha, January 29 (QNA) - A Biotechnology Center functioning under Qatar's Ministry of Environment will soon have a world-class gene bank to preserve plants and animals including up to 10,000 genes, with a special focus on palm trees, camels, oryx and sheep, a senior official of the center told Qatari English daily (The Peninsula). "The project is presently at the designing stage with the Public Works Authority (Ashghal) and it will be operational by 2014", Director of the Center Masoud J Al Marri said. This ambitious project would be instrumental in preserving Qatar s flora and fauna and the rare species of plants and animals that are facing the threat of extinction. Apart from the seeds of important plants and crops, the Center also intends to preserve blood samples, semen, tissues, embryos and other genetic resources of wild animals to ensure biodiversity and food security in the country. The center also has a strategy to conduct artificial insemination of wild animals in future. "Once completed the proposed gene bank will have up to 10,000 genetic materials of plants, animals and human beings but the number of micro-organisms will be much higher," Al Marri noted. "The gene bank will help discover and preserve bio-diversity in Qatar, through DNA testing and finger printing technology. It will also be a training ground for students and researchers, and will help in exchanging information and expertise with other GCC and Arab countries," he added. The staff at the center is in the process of collecting samples and taking their footprints to prepare genetic resource database namely plant genetic research, animal genetic research and micro-organisms genetic research. The center also has a plan to get them registered with the concerned authorities under the Nagoya protocol to protect the rights of various species of plants and animals. Marri said that in case of any emergency or crisis, the gene bank will enable the country to replant and conserve the seed of a particular crop. He pointed out that the gene bank will also be beneficial for the researchers who are not able to collect samples from the open environment. The proposed gene bank will exchange resources from other countries. "We can exchange genetic material with other countries under the Nagoya Convention Protocol, which is a bio-diversity convention that protects right of countries with regard to genetic materials. We can use materials from other countries for study and research," he said. The Nagoya Convention is informally known as the Biodiversity Convention, which is an internationally legally binding treaty. The Convention has three important objectives namely ensuring biodiversity; sustainable use of its components; and fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from genetic resources for sustainable development. The Biotechnology Center has already started to culture tissues of fruits such as guava, pineapple, bananas, date palms as well as some ornamental and desert plants to turn the country into a green-land. The advantage of tissue culture is that from a single offshoot one can grow large numbers of plants ensuring high quality. This technology is particularly beneficial for plants such as palm trees that are hard to propagate and take very long time to grow. Besides palm trees, the laboratory has successfully grown hundreds of banana saplings which are in different phases of growth at the facility. The Center has the target to grow 100,000 saplings of palm trees every year. The saplings grown in the nursery will be offered for sale. (QNA)