Using biotechnology to protect biodiversity
Today is "International Biodiversity Day". At present, the vast majority of China's national key protected wild animal and plant species have been protected. The populations of nearly 10 endangered species such as crested ibis, siberian tiger, etc. have begun to recover, and artificial breeding of more than 60 rare and endangered wild animals has succeeded.
Our reporter Zhao Hanbin
May 22nd is "International Biodiversity Day". The Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment Zhuang Guotai said recently that at present, various types of nature reserves in China account for more than 18% of the land area. Most of the national key protected wild animal and plant species are protected, and nearly 10 species such as ibis, Siberian tiger The population of endangered species has begun to recover, and artificial breeding of more than 60 rare and endangered wild animals has succeeded.
The 15th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP15) is planned to be held in Kunming this year. The acting executive secretary of the United Nations Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity, Elizabeth Murema, believes that China ’s advocacy for ecological civilization is not just It is a wonderful vision of China, and it also reflects the common aspirations of the world and all mankind.
Biodiversity is an important material basis for human society to survive and develop, and is closely related to everyone's production and life. At the same time, all countries in the world also have a responsibility to protect their own biodiversity and should cooperate to use biological resources in a sustainable manner. However, it is a matter of concern that some human activities are causing the rapid decline of the species that make up biodiversity. So using modern biological science and technology, what has China done to protect biodiversity?
Genome Sequencing: Looking for Chinese Purebred Green Peacock
This year, researcher Yang Xiaojun, leader of the ornithology group of the Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, has been happy for a long time: he has bred more than 20 eggs one after another. These eggs are not easy to come by, but they are pure peacock eggs. In order to "pure breed", Yang Xiaojun and his team worked hard for six or seven years.
"In recent years, the population of green peacocks has been declining. The surveys in the 1990s and the surveys in recent years have shown that the downward trend is very serious. At the same time, we also conducted a survey on the adoption of green peacocks and found that, The adopted green peacocks are no longer purebred. "Yang Xiaojun said that the sharp decline in the population has put the green peacocks in danger of extinction in China, which has an impact on our biodiversity; there is no purebred adopted green peacocks Will also pose a threat to subsequent population restoration.
The crisis of the Green Peacock is not alone. In an interview with the Science and Technology Daily, Murema said: "The problems and challenges we are facing are not single but comprehensive. Recent scientific research shows that we are facing unprecedented biodiversity challenges." The report shows that the rate of extinction of species on the planet is accelerating, and more than a thousand endangered species are facing the danger of extinction.
Using new genomic sequencing technology, comparing purebred peacocks with other species to produce genetic exchanges, and comparing the genomic data published by foreign counterparts, Yang Xiaojun's team moved to Hengduan Mountain, Yunnan and large and small conservation areas, and finally found six or seven "babies" And brought to the laboratory of Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences carefully imitating the wild habitat. "Our protection and research have shown a ray of dawn, but there is still a long way to go to the goal of gene exchange between enough populations." Yang Xiaojun said.
In fact, biotechnology is to improve the existing rare plants and animals. Today, not only in the zoology, botany, even prokaryotes and mycology circles, countless Chinese and foreign scientists are working hard to use biotechnology to save endangered and critically endangered species.
"Five Storages": "Noah's Ark" to protect wild germplasm resources
On November 7, 1992, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress approved China's accession to the "Contract for Biological Diversity". In this Convention, biotechnology is defined as "the use of technologies such as biological systems, organisms or their derivatives to make or modify products to achieve specific purposes."
Nearly 100 scientists are doing trivial, subtle and extremely important work on the National Plant Science Collection and the World's Second Largest Germplasm Resource Bank-the Plant Germplasm Collection Center and Molecular Experiment Platform of the Wildlife Seed Resource Bank in Southwest China Important work. They sorted, cleaned and processed all kinds of flowering plant seeds collected from various parts of our country, and then refrigerated them into the plant seed bank at minus 20 degrees Celsius or liquid nitrogen at minus 196 degrees Celsius.
"The preservation mode of this resource library is 'five libraries in one', that is, the plant seed library is the core library, which has both the plant ex vivo library, the plant DNA library, the animal germplasm library and the microbial library." Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences Researcher Li Deba, the leader of the sex and genomics team, told Sci-tech Daily that 70% of the seed resources have entered the plant seed bank, which has been stored for a long time after being processed by drying and freezing technology, while providing materials for resource utilization and scientific research; The task of the in vitro library is mainly to preserve intermediate and recalcitrant seeds, as well as plants that are difficult to preserve with seeds. The stored materials include test tube seedlings, callus, roots, tubers, bulbs, bulbs, pollen, spores, and micropropagules Or a culture; in the DNA library, a batch of functional genes with important value were screened and identified; the animal germplasm library mainly preserves the rare and endangered endemic wild vertebrate germplasm resources, taking into account the collection of wild relatives and special economic animals Germplasm resources; microbial pools preserve long-term, safe and effective large-scale fungal germplasm resources of important economic value While emphasizing the collection of actinomycetes and special habitats microbial germplasm.
"As of the end of 2019, we have collected 10096 germplasm resources in this seeded" Noah's Ark ", and plant germplasm resources account for 34.5% of the total number of plants in China. A small jar can even hold 20,000 seeds Seeds, they can effectively maintain hundreds of years or even thousands of years. "Li Deba said.
In terms of animal germplasm resources, this large scientific device has achieved some successful cases in the preservation of germ cells and embryonic cells in a short time, but at present, the preservation of animal germplasm resources is still very difficult from a global perspective. "We have preserved more than 6,000 animal DNA materials. Under the current technical conditions, most of these materials cannot be restored to a normal biological individual, but can provide an important reserve for future protection." Li Deba said.
Artificial propagation: not only protect the number of species but also play an economic role
White konjac and Yunnan sycamore are two endemic species in the Jinsha River Basin of China. However, due to their small populations, narrow habitats, and severe human interference, they are at risk of extinction at any time. Sun Weibang, leader of the extremely small population wild plant protection team of the Kunming Institute of Botany, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, believes that white konjac has the value of both medicine and food. After artificial pollination, the seed setting rate can be greatly improved. In the long run, commercial planting has considerable economic benefits; and Yunnan The whole body of the sycamore is treasure, especially the paulownia has extremely high nutritional value. The plant itself can be used as high-quality garden and landscape greening tree species. After artificial propagation and orderly use, it is expected to escape from the endangered "bitter sea".
"Some species, we ca n’t just circle them or plant a few models. It ’s not only necessary to protect their population and restore their growth steadily, but also to explore their economic value and aesthetic value so that they can produce multiple benefits. Sustainable development. "Sun Weibang said that in recent years, they have made remarkable achievements in the protection of endemic plants such as Yangbi maple and Huagai, endangered and important economically valuable plants. In recent years, they have also extended the concept and methods of the protection of extremely small populations to the protection of rare and endangered wildlife. This is consistent with the three major objectives of the Convention on Biological Diversity to protect the earth ’s biodiversity, sustainable use of biodiversity and fair and equitable sharing of genetic resources.
"In general, because we have very many species, there are also many endangered species, and many of them, we can not carry out ex situ conservation, can only be carried out by delimiting comprehensive protection areas." Professor Dong of Yunnan Agricultural University Yang said that some species, especially some plants with well-developed root systems, such as orchids, as well as some critically endangered plants and mammals, can be protected ex situ. We have to dialectically make decisions based on different biological species and different situations. It is impossible to adopt the same model.