FWS helps create bank of endangered species DNA
Written by Black Hot Fire Network on October 18, 2023
This article was updated at 3:32 p.m. EDT.
Deep-frozen wildlife cell samples could enable the future cloning of at-risk species under a technically adventurous initiative by the Fish and Wildlife Service and its private partners.
Dubbed “biobanking,” the collaborative effort has identified 24 endangered animals whose tissue collections may be shelved in one of two DNA lending libraries and kept at minus 196 degrees Celsius until they are checked out in the future.
“Cryogenically preserved cell culture samples are an insurance policy against future losses of biodiversity . . .
