Background

The Biotechnology and Biosafety Division was established in 1995 based on the then existing cytogenetic and seed health control laboratories. A chromosome study was used to characterize collected accessions. Materials coming from within or outside the country were checked for the presence any disease or weed at the seed health control laboratory. Isozyme was started in 1998. According to the new organizational setup the department has three sections: Molecular and tissue culture, Seed health control and Nutrition.

In the molecular and tissue culture laboratory, although screening of crops is conducted using isozyme markers, it is basically under construction. In the molecular and tissue culture laboratory, although screening of crops is conducted using isozyme markers, it is basically under construction.

The Seed health control laboratory functions properly, although with very elementary and limited equipment. The section has six main activities: laboratory seed health testing, field evaluation for disease infestation, seed treatment, plant quarantine, collection of disease specimens and germplasm distribution. So far 57,422 and 2085 accessions have been distributed within and out of the country respectively. 17,480 accessions were inspected in the laboratory and 15,000 accessions were evaluated in field conditions. About 60,000 accessions were treated with pesticides and 186 specimens have been collected.

The Nutrition labratory is relatively well equipped. It conducts analysis on total protein, crude fat, crude fiber, mineral ash and moisture. It will be soon able to conduct analysis on aminoacid and tannin content of crop plants. So far analysis on the above elements has been conducted on about 7000 accessions of different crops, collected from either the in situ conservation sites or from earlier collections in the genebank.

Goal

The main goal of the department is to assist agricultural research and other users in the effort to achieve food self-sufficiency and alleviate poverty in the country.

Objectives

* Support the activities of other departments at IBC;
* Make the conservation and utilization of genetic resources rational, cost effective and sustainable through adoption and development of appropriate biological and biochemical techniques;
*Supply users with well-characterized and evaluated initial materials.

Future plans

Molecular, biochemical and tissue culture

* Molecular and biochemical techniques will be adopted and developed for characterization of collected accessions and diversity studies.
* Valuable genes within the genetic resources will be identified and their appropriate application (in agriculture, industry and medicine) shall be promoted.
* Quantitative traits of germplasm and their potential impact will be studied using molecular markers,
* Genetic transformation activities will be initiated to support the crop improvement programmes;
* Tissue culture based propagation techniques for the specific plants that require tissue culture will be developed;
* Cryopreservation techniques will be developed for specific plants that are recalcitrant to conventional genebank preservation systems;
* Tissue culture techniques will also be useded to study stress tolerance (salt, drought, acidity, disease etc.) of plants

Seed health

* Microorganisms, which may cause diseases on crops, vegetables, fruit trees, forage and medicinal plants will be studied in collaboration with research institutions;
* Germplasm accessions will be evaluated on the laboratory and in the field for disease and pest tolerance;
* Research on host-disease interactions will be conducted in collaboration with other researchers;

Nutrition

* Nutrient composition (protein, fat, ash, fiber and water) and nutritional values of food crops and forage including essential amino acids such as lysine, tryptophan, etc. and tannin (undesirable constituent of food and forage crops) analysis will be conducted;
* Chemical properties and content analysis of economically useful crops such as spices and herbs, oil crops, etc. and animal productswill be conducted;
* Food germplasm, primarily wheat, barley and sorghum, will be characterised depending on the intended use of the germplasm (for consumers, industry, etc);

Research in Animal Genetic Resource

* Cryopreservation techniques for animal reproductive organs (semen, oocytes and embryos will be adopted and developed;
* Molecular (RELP, RAPD, minisatallites and microsatallites) & biochemical tests (for blood grouping, isozyme and protein analyses) will be adopted and developed for the purpose of identification, characterization and evaluation of animal genetic resources;
* DNA probes will developed and be used to detect inherited diseases and pathogens;
* DNA probes and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) will be adopted and developed for disease diagnostic purposes.

Research in Microbial Genetic Resource

* Molecular and biochemical techniques will be adopted and developed for the characterization of microbial genetic resources;
* Valuable genes in microbial genetic resources will be identified, studied and their application (in agriculture, industry, medicine and environment) will be promoted;
* Appropriate microorganism conservation techniques will be developed;

Biosafety

* Biosafety guidelines on the development, use and transfer of genetically modified organisms (plants, animals and microorganisms) will be developed in collaboration with pertinent institutions;
* To implement its objectives and programmes the biotechnology and biotechnology will join into scientific networks and collaboration research with national, regional and international institutions.
* The modalities of cooperation and networking will be based on memorandum of understanding, which is signed by collaborating institutions in case of common research activities; participating in research review forums and institutional policy on participating in networks.

News

Content Links

» Background

» Goal

» Objectives

» Future Plan

»» Molecular, biochemical and tissue culture
»» Seed Health
»» Nutrition
»» Research in Animal Genetic Resource
»» Research in Microbial Genetic Resource
»» Biosafety