VPB 321: Animal Biotechnology (2+1)

PURPOSE OF GENE BANKING

• The primary purpose for establishing a gene bank is to preserve examples of threatened or endangered species. Each year, untold numbers of plant and animal species become extinct because of natural processes and more commonly, as the result of human activities. Once those species become extinct, their gene pools are lost forever.
• Many livestock breeds are vulnerable and could not be replaced in the case of natural decline or disaster. A typical example is that during the recent outbreak of Foot and Mouth disease in Britain, a large number of minority breeds became highly endangered due to the enforcement of policies to contain the disease.
• Efforts are now underway to establish gene banks for animals. Such banks consist of small colonies of the animals themselves. Animal gene banks are desirable as a way of maintaining species whose natural population is very low.
• Sometimes the purpose of the bank is simply to maintain the species to prevent its becoming extinct. In other cases, species are being preserved because they were once used as farm animals although they have since been replaced by more productive modern hybrid species.
• The Fayoumi chicken native to Egypt, for example, has now been abandoned by farmers in favor of imported species. The Fayoumi, without some form of protection, is likely to become extinct. Nonetheless, it may well have some characteristics (genes) that are worth preserving.