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Genomics and Applied Biology, 2011, Vol.2 No.4
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Figure 3 Proteomics based approach for identifying novel
proteins giving tolerance against stress
3.3 Combination of various high throughput appr-
oaches to conserve plant diversity
The richness of biological diversity in India is evident;
it is mainly due to varied climatic, altitudinal and
ecological habitats. We have mountains that fall in
tropical to temperate regions, and hence the number of
plant species is enormous. There have been increasing
rates of threats of depletion to these biological resources
due to immense biotic and abiotic stresses. A total of
560 plant species of India have been included in the
International Union for Conservation of Nature and
Natural Resources (IUCN) Red List of Threatened
species, out of which 247 species are in the threatened
category (Kapai et al., 2010). The changing climatic
conditions may play a crucial role in depletion of this
biological diversity. Various groups across the country
are involved in identifying threatened species, conser-
vation and analysis of their metabolic profiles and
identification of a number of useful bio-molecules
from these species has also been done. However, there
is still a great potential within these species yet to be
explored. These species can serve as a rich source of
germplasm for identification of novel genes, proteins
and metabolites. Various high throughput techniques
like genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics and metabolo-
mics can help us in the accomplishment of this goal. It
is very important to conserve the threatened plant
species. Conservation is possible by both in-situ and
ex-situ methods (Figure 4). In-situ methods have been
followed to conserve the biological diversity by defining
biosphere reserves and protected areas. Although
protecting plant or animal species in their natural
habitats is the best method of conservation, but
managing these protected areas becomes a major
concern. Lax vigilance and poaching always causes
biological damage.
Ex-situ conservation has its origin in setting up
botanical gardens and zoological parks. Globally, ex situ
conservation now plays a significant role in biodiversity
conservation. Seed banks/gene banks, tissue culture,
captive breeding, aquaria, forest nurseries have recently
been added to ex situ conservation networks and have
proven to be much useful, quick and effective. As such
biotechnology provides us solution to conserve these
threatened species. The need is to develop gene banks
and various other efficient in-vitro systems to avoid
loss of these important bio-resources.
Author Contributions
SMZ and MN wrote the paper, GKA and RR also read the
manuscript and revised it. All authors had read and consented
the final text.
Acknowledgements
SMZ is grateful to the Vice Chancellor, SKUAST-J for
providing necessary facilities.