Format: ORAL

Jun He1,Junbo Yang1,Dezhu Li1

Germplasm Bank of Wild Species, Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences,Kunming, Yunnan 650201,People's Republic of China

Both in situ and ex situ conservation are complementary and synergistic approaches that are essential for the protection of wild plants and their biodiversity. As a major national scientific infrastructure, the Southwest China Germplasm Bank of Wild Species has established a wild plant germplasm resource bank that includes a seed bank, plant tissue culture bank, DNA bank, animal germplasm bank, and microbial germplasm bank. The plant tissue culture bank is mainly based on the theory and methods of tissue culture to carry out species conservation, in order to achieve long-term conservation of exceptional species with low yield, poor quality, recalcitrance, and cannot be directly sown. Explants are obtained through field collection or exchange, and then cultured through various methods such as protocorn type, short branch cutting type, clustered shoots proliferation type, or organ type. Finally, strategies such as normal temperature or low temperature restriction are used to achieve in vitro preservation of germplasm resources. The use of in vitro conservation methods allows wild plant germplasm resources to obtain regenerability, repeatability, and sustainability in research and utilization, which is a major characteristic that distinguishes in vitro preservation from other ex situ conservation methods, and provides new strategies to make up for the shortcomings of in situ and other ex situ conservation methods. The staff of the Southwest China Germplasm Bank of Wild Species has made certain progress in large-scale in vitro preservation of wild plants through years of accumulation. As of the end of 2023, the plant tissue culture bank has preserved in vitro culture materials of more than 1,100 species and 27,100 samples, with orchid species accounting for over 60%. It has preserved one-third of the species and 55% of the genera of wild orchids in China, as well as other rare and endangered plants.