Establishment and Quality Control Criteria for Population Culture Collection - Promising Strategy for Animal Genetic Resource Preservation

Modern Approaches To Quality Control 154In the context of biodiversity crisis, no country around the world stands indifferent regarding the preservation of animal genetic resources.The contest for genetic resources, the basis for animal husbandry and sustainable development, is nearly incandescent.Scientists from all around the world have been endeavouring to preserve and to make use of animal genetic resources, which are now stored in terms of individual animals, semen, embryos, genomic libraries, cDNA libraries, etc.Unfortunately, these alternative methods remain problematic for several reasons: i) endangered species and breeds are incredibly diversified, rendering the costs for preservation of individual animals unaffordable; ii) some core techniques for semen and embryos are still immature; iii) genomic DNA or organ preservation are not applicable in long term because of their finite proliferative capabilities; iv) genomic libraries and cDNA libraries are not the basic unit of cellular activities, moreover, their biological function can only be represented in transgenic techniques.Accordingly, preservation of animal genetic resources in terms of somatic cells is essentially an effective and appealing procedure to protect vulnerable mammalian and avian species, as well as all other kinds of animals.In comparison, somatic cell line, by virtue of its low costs, large capacity, convenient application, proliferative potential and so on, is supposed to be a promising strategy for storage of animal genetic resources.Consistent with this notion, culture collections of animal materials, mainly identified cell lines, have been established and developed over time.American Type Culture Collection (ATCC), for instance, endeavours to isolate, collect, preserve and supply reliable cell lines, with its all identified type culture applicable for register, preservation, instant use, and even commercial provision.European Collection of Animal Cell Culture (ECACC), jointly run by England and Switzerland, has collected and identified some 1600 cell lines.Established in 1986, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences has collected cell stains, tissues and germ cells of numerous precious species of wild life.The lab of Animal Genetic Resources, Institute of Animal Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, by virtue of its solid technical platform, advantages in animal genetic resources, and persistent efforts in the past decade or so, has established Animal Population Culture Collection of China (APCCC), the most massive animal population culture collection in the world, comprising somatic cell lines with different tissue origins, including ear margin, blood, kidney, heart, brain, muscle, stomach and so on, from 88 animal breeds primarily in China, e.g.chicken (Gallus gallus), duck (Anseriformes Anatidae), goose (Anser cygnoides orientalis), sandpiper (Scolopacidae), cattle (Bos taurus), sheep (Ovis aries), goat (Capra hircus), pig (Suidae), ferret-polecat (Mustela Pulourius Furot), raccoon dog (Nyctereutes procyonoides), horse (Equus caballus), mule, red deer (Cervus elaphus), sika deer (Cervus nippon), fox (Vulpinae), wolf (Canis lupus), bactrian camel (Camelus bactrianus), tiger (Panthera tigris), etc., and further endeavours to conserve other animal species and breeds in the world.A well-orchestrated series of standardized technical lines and quality control criteria is steadily ameliorated in this process.This chapter will introduce the preservation of animal genetic resources in terms of somatic cells and the quality control criteria by detailed experimental description and technical line.