JNTBGRI joins Global Genome Initiative

Move tp collect the earth’s genomic biodiversity and preserve it in biorepositories

March 09, 2021 12:30 am | Updated 12:32 am IST - THIRUVANANTHAPURAM

The Jawaharlal Nehru Tropical Botanic Garden and Research Institute (JNTBGRI) has joined the Global Genome Initiative (GGI), a collaborative effort to collect the earth’s genomic biodiversity, preserve it in biorepositories and make it available to researchers.

JNTBGRI is one among 14 botanic gardens and arboreta worldwide to secure the GGI-Gardens 2020/2021 award administered jointly by the Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI) and the United States Botanic Garden (USBG).

The institute at Palode here is also the first organisation from India to join this network, its director Dr. R. Prakashkumar said. GGI aims to ‘capture’ half of the world’s genomic diversity in this manner by 2022. “In connection with the programme, JNTBGRI is now part of the Global Genome Biodiversity Network (GGBN). The GGBN is an initiative to develop a global network of biological repositories and their representatives, a number of institutions with biological repositories organised to form an unincorporated international network,” Dr. Prakashkumar said in a statement.

Under the programme, JNTBGRI will be given initial priority to plant families and genus that are not presently represented in GGBN biorepositories, emphasising species that are endemic to the Western Ghats, JNTBGRI said.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.