JNTBGRI joins Global Genome Initiative

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

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.