Time Capsule for the Cells and Genes of Endangered Species Unveiled

The National Institute for Environmental Studies (NIES), an independent administrative institution in Tsukuba City, Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan, unveiled its newly established facility, called the "Environmental Sample Time Capsule" on May 31, 2004. The facility is designed to preserve the cells of endangered wildlife and series of samples collected over time in order to examine changes in environmental pollution. This is the nation's first attempt to systematically preserve the cells of endangered species.

Sponsored by the Ministry of the Environment (MoE), NIES has been preserving wildlife cells and genes since fiscal 2002. Currently, NIES is storing 2,000 samples of 104 endangered species, including the Japanese crested ibis, the Tsushima wildcat and the Ryukyu ayu, a type of sweetfish. Over the next three years, NIES plans to increase its range of samples to cover more than 200 endangered species listed in the Red Data Book, published by the MoE and based on the Red List of Endangered Species compiled by the international World Conservation Union. Samples in the form of sperm, egg cells, fertilized eggs and somatic cells are semi-permanently preserved in liquid nitrogen at minus 150 degrees Celsius. These cells and genes will be used for future study and to clone extinct species when more advanced biotechnology is developed, or to determine the cause of extinction.

In order to study and analyze changes in dioxins and other environmental pollutants during the next 50 to 100 years, NIES also plans to preserve other types of samples collected across the country, such as soil, atmospheric dust, human milk, fish such as rays and bivalves such as blue mussels.

The new facility is a two-story reinforced concrete building, and has floor space of about 2,050 square meters. It has a storage room with 14 tanks of liquid nitrogen for long-term preservation of environmental samples, as well as a research laboratory to analyze vital functions.



Posted: 2004/08/25 10:26:51 AM
Japanese version