Biodiversity Biobanks
MEET THE BIO BANKS
MEET THE BIOBANKS
The Biodiversity Biobanks South Africa serves as a coordinating and supporting mechanism across many of South Africa’s most important biodiversity biobanks. BBSA biobanks store, study and share hundreds of thousands of samples of biological material from plants, animals, bacteria and fungi, from field to farm to ocean – and beyond. Get to know some of the BBSA biobanks below.
UFS Yeast Culture Collection: Featuring Fantastic Yeast
UFS Yeast Culture Collection: Featuring Fantastic Yeast Contrary to what many of us may think, yeasts aren’t just found in breads and beers. These unicellular organisms are hundreds of millions of years old, found all ...
ARC National Small Grain Collection – Seeding A Secure Future
ARC National Small Grain Collection - Seeding A Secure Future Grains matter. They’re a food staple in almost every culture on Earth, responsible for almost half the calories we consume (directly and indirectly) for thousands ...
SANBI Biobank – Saving Species, Building Biodiversity
SANBI Wildlife Biobank – Saving Species, Building Biodiversity The wildlife biobank at the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) has been dedicated to the long-term collection, curation and archiving of biodiversity samples for more than ...
SANBI Wild Plant Seedbank – A Time Capsule Of Plants Past
SANBI Wild Plant Seedbank – A Time Capsule Of Plants Past Plant species worldwide are under threat of becoming extinct as a result of habitat loss, invasive alien plants, over-collection and more - and South ...
Meet The Biobank: Grootfontein Biobank – Breeding Better Sheep (And Goats)
Meet The Biobank: Grootfontein Biobank – Breeding Better Sheep (And Goats) Most biobanks are staffed entirely by humans (for obvious reasons). But while the human team at Grootfontein Biobank for Sheep and Goats, does most ...
Meet The Biobank: ARC National Collection of Fungi – Much More Than Mushrooms
Meet The Biobank: ARC National Collection of Fungi - More Than Mushrooms The Agricultural Research Council (ARC) has several biobanks that form part of the core biobank system of the Biodiversity Biobanks South Africa (BBSA), ...
SANBI Indigenous Plant DNA Biobank: Saving Our Genetic Heritage
Meet The Biobank: SANBI Indigenous Plant DNA Biobank: Saving Our Genetic Heritage South Africa is a known biodiversity hotspot, boasting over 20 000 indigenous plants of all shapes and sizes and high levels of endemism. ...
Meet The Biobanks: SAIAB – The Place Of Fishes (And More)
Meet The Biobanks: SAIAB - The Place Of Fishes (And More) More than seventy percent of the Earth’s surface is covered by water. It’s where life began - and even now, where most of life’s ...
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What are biodiversity biobanks?
Biodiversity biobanks are repositories of biologically relevant resources, including reproductive tissues such as seeds, eggs and sperm, other tissues including blood, DNA extracts, microbial cultures (active and dormant), and environmental samples containing biological communities….
