Gene banks are a type of biorepository which preserve genetic material.

In plants, this could be by freezing cuts from the plant, or stocking the seeds. In animals, this is the freezing of sperm and eggs in zoological freezers until further need. With corals, fragments are taken which are stored in water tanks under controlled conditions.[1] In plants, it is possible to unfreeze the material and propagate it, however, in animals, a living female is required for artificial insemination. While it is often difficult to utilize frozen animal sperm and eggs, there are many examples of it being done successfully. In an effort to conserve agricultural biodiversity, gene banks are used to store and conserve the plant genetic resources of major crop plants and their crop wild relatives. There are many gene banks all over the world, with the Svalbard Global Seed Vault being probably the most famous one.

Gene banking is simply the preservation of an animals genes to be available for future use. All thats required is a small biopsy sample that you or your veterinarian provide. By gene banking your most valuable animals, you protect your investment. If you lose an animal to injury or disease, or geld a colt that later proves to have valuable reproductive potential, gene banking is sound insurance. Even if you are not ready to move forward with the cloning process, gene
banking is a simple and inexpensive guarantee that your animals genetics are saved.

An organism's genes are essentially its blueprints, painstakingly detailed strands of DNA in every living cell. By properly freezing this genetic material, we can preserve the blueprints for ages to come. On one hand, these efforts are very much in keeping with Noah's. There are currently more than 900 endangered animal species on the planet, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Instead of facing down a flood from God, they're largely threatened by conditions brought on by centuries of human expansion, exploitation and pollution. If we preserve their genes now, scientists think we will be able to reintroduce them through cloning later. Likewise, many species of crops are threatened as well. But gene banks are more than just a global backup system for the next time the human race accidently deletes an important file. By collecting the genetic master plans for the planet's plants and animals, we're better able to study the inner workings of the natural world. In this article, we'll look at current efforts to collect and store the genes of Earth's living creatures, from food crops and extinct wildlife to the DNA profiles of entire human populations. You could say we're saving up for a rainy day.

1. Simply call ViaGen to request a gene banking kit and make arrangements with your veterinarian. 2. ViaGen will ship the genetic preservation biopsy kit and a shipping container to you with detailed instructions. 3. The tissue samples taken by your veterinarian are shipped back to our lab and cultured to produce viable cells genetically identical to the donor animal. 4. The cells are then cryogenically frozen and can be stored indefinitely.