Tunis, Tunisia
November 30, 2007
Wagdy Sawahel,
SciDev.Net
Tunisia's president, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, inaugurated a
national gene bank this month (11 November) to promote the
development of sustainable agriculture in the country.
Located in Tunis, the National Gene Bank aims to preserve
biological diversity and protect genetic resources, boost
scientific research in agricultural biotechnology and promote
sustainable genetic diversity for research into plant breeding
and crop improvement.
It will hold 200,000 samples of genetic resources, such as
seeds, semen, tissue and pollen. It will collect, identify,
characterise, manage and conserve plant, animal and
microorganism genetic resources, particularly for endangered
species.
According to Mnaouer Djemali, general director of the National
Gene Bank, the bank is designed to improve coordination among
operators –– researchers, farmers and nongovernmental
organisations –– in genetic resources.
The bank will cooperate with international gene banks and
research centres and contribute to the biotechnological
development of agriculture in Africa and Arab countries, Djemali
told SciDev.Net.
A database of the country's plant genetic resources will be
established and information will be disseminated to researchers
through workshops and training programmes.
The bank will also raise public awareness of the importance of
conserving genetic diversity through field-research activities
with farmers.
Ahmed Rebai, researcher at the
Tunisian Centre of Biotechnology of Sfax, told SciDev.Net
that many Tunisian genetic 'treasures' are stored in
international collections in Europe and the United States. ″Now
we can welcome these dispersed genetic resources back home,″ he
said.
Amr Farouk Abdelkhalik, regional coordinator of the Agricultural
Biotechnology Network in Africa, says "The main target of such
an important gene bank should be to characterise those genetic
resources as a gene pool for different traits, such as
[resistance to] salinity and drought. There is still a long way
to [go before we can] utilise the important and natural genes
expressed in those resources."
Magdi Tawfik Abdelhamid, a plant biotechnologist at Cairo's
National Research Centre, told SciDev.Net that expanding the
National Gene Bank's activity to encompass the whole North
African region would avoid duplication of efforts and save on
resources, as well as enlarging the target market for commercial
production of improved plant material.
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