"Noah's Ark" at Moscow State University
Moscow State University has opened the second cryobank of plant cells and tissues in Russia
In the Center of Excellence in the Field of Biotechnology of Lomonosov Moscow State University, a cryopreservation of cell cultures and meristems (tissues) of plants was opened as part of the Noah's Ark project. The cryobank is designed for 50,000 samples, which will be stored in liquid nitrogen vapor at a temperature of -180 °C. Among the samples will be meristems of valuable agricultural species and cell cultures capable of synthesizing valuable biologically active substances of plant origin for biotechnological use.
Chief Engineer of the Center of Excellence in the Field of Biotechnology of Moscow State University
Vladimir Lobakov shows a new cryopreservation
Photo: press service of Lomonosov Moscow State University
At first, it is planned to place duplicates of the most valuable samples from the collection of the Institute of Plant Physiology (IFR RAS) in the new cryohistory. Among them there are cell cultures of rare species growing from Baikal to Amur.
Some of them, for example, the cell culture of Polyscias fern (Polyscias filicifilia), are already being used to obtain biologically active additives and medicines. A number of others (Japanese ginseng (Panaxjaponicus), Dioscorea deltoidea) are of great interest for the creation of medicines, nutraceuticals or cosmetics. In order to provide additional reliability of sample storage, it is planned to develop a system for freezing valuable genotypes and storing their duplicates in the cryobank of the IFR RAS. MSU scientists note that for each culture, the freezing process is selected individually and takes place with the gradual adaptation of cells to negative temperatures.
Biological material is stored not in liquid nitrogen itself, but in its vapors. This is necessary in order to eliminate the process of cross–contamination - contamination of samples of biological material with particles of each other. "For animal objects, there is evidence (albeit few) that when stored directly in liquid nitrogen, their cross–contamination is possible," comments Alexander Nosov, head of the Department of Plant Physiology at Moscow State University, "Storage in liquid nitrogen vapor completely eliminates this possibility. One of the scientific tasks of our cryobank is to study how likely this danger is for plant objects."
Total in There are two cryobanks of biotechnological material in Russia: at the IGF RAS and now at Moscow State University. The new cryobank was created with the support of the RNF as part of the "Plants" direction of the Noah's Ark project. There are only a few such repositories in the world. The famous international cryopreservation facility in Svalbard is intended only for seeds, it is impossible to store cell cultures and meristems in it.
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24.05.2017