China's new germplasm bank to unlock secrets of Qinghai-Xizang Plateau

China's Qinghai Province has announced the successful completion of its germplasm resources bank on the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau, a significant step in understanding and protecting the region's unique biodiversity.

Led by the Northwest Institute of Plateau Biology under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the bank serves as a comprehensive platform for sample management, genetic analysis and data sharing.

The state-of-the-art facility boasts a variety of specialized storage units, including ultra-low temperature freezers for long-term preservation, spaces for living plants and animals, dedicated fish storage, and sections for medicinal materials and microorganisms.

This advanced infrastructure has preserved over 50,000 germplasm resources, significantly bolstering conservation efforts on the plateau.

Yang Qi'en, deputy head of the institute, said that since its inception, the bank has completed reference genome analysis of 19 representative species in the Sanjiangyuan area, including snow leopards and brown bears, and successfully analyzed the evolutionary history and population dynamics of five animal groups, including snow leopards and schizothorus fish, and built a plateau animal genome database.

The bank contains more than 10 terabyte of animal genome data, and will promote the development, protection and application of plateau wildlife resources, Yang added.

The Sanjiangyuan area holds the origins of three mighty rivers – the Yangtze, Yellow and Lancang. It is one of the regions on the world with the most concentrated biodiversity at high altitude, and also an important ecological security barrier and biodiversity treasure house on the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau.

(With input from Xinhua.)