A glimpse of the new China National GeneBank (Photo : Twitter)
China has unveiled its first national gene bank with the hopes of better utilizing genetic resources.
The China National Genebank (CNGB), located in the city of Shenzhen, launched its operations on Thursday, the China Daily reported.
Dubbed as the Chinese Noah's ark, the gene bank currently houses around 10 million genetic samples comprising of both indigenous and foreign plant and animal species, as well as that of microorganisms. The facility aims to grow its collection to 300 million samples in the future.
It also houses a cancer database containing 3,000 samples, information on around 50.000 different genetic mutations, and a database of birth defects.
According to Xu Xun, executive director for the CNGB, they hope to build the center into the world largest and most comprehensive gene bank.
China's new gene bank is the fourth national-level gene storage facility following United States National Center for Biotechnology Information's GenBank, the European Molecular Biology Laboratory, and the DNA Data Bank of Japan.
The new national gene bank is expected to provide a large amount of contribution to research in fields like agriculture, biomedicine, marine biology, and microbiology.
Development of the gene bank began in 2011, after the proposal was approved by the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the National Health and Family Planning Commission.
Aside from storing physical gene samples, the CNGB also aims to become a major center providing access to genetic data, the Global Times reported. The facility is reportedly capable of handling 60 petabytes worth of genetic data.
Beijing Genomics Institute, one of the projects major supporters, also revealed plans to build an underground gene storage facility for the center,which will be the first of its kind in the world and will serve as a permanent storage for the most important genetic resources in the planet.
The CNGB has also reportedly come to an agreement for a cooperative project with the Svalbard Seed Vault in Norway.
