Biobanks of genetic resources of farm animals worldwide and in Russia (review)

The decline in biodiversity and, as a consequence, in genetic resources of farm animals worldwide as a result of the growing anthropogenic impact is recognized as a global problem that requires an immediate solution. Therefore, the conservation of national gene pools of farm animals is of crucial importance. One of the most effective forms of conservation of genetic resources is the long-term deposit of animal biomaterials in specialized collections-biobanks. Global experience shows that the creation of such biobanks with materials accessible to scientists, breeders, and agricultural professionals, is of great scientific and applied importance. The article analyzes domestic and foreign sources over the last 10 years. The purpose of the review is to summarize current data on the development of biobanking of farm animals worldwide and in the Russian Federation. The current state of the problem of conservation of genetic resources of farm animals and approaches for its solution are considered, the main emphasis is on the conservation of materials in vitro. The paper describes the current state of collections of genetic resources of farm animals in the Russian Federation and the largest national gene banks in several countries. The need to expand work in the field of biobanking of farm animals is shown. In the future, biobank samples can be used both to preserve populations of small, rare animal breeds and to restore the genetic variability of commercial, actively bred breeds. With the development of omix technologies, biobanks of farm animals are becoming particularly important as sources of genetically diverse and specialized DNA that can be used to study gene functions and analyze genomic associations.