1. Brief Introduction of the Research Center

　　The Research Center for Genetic Resources Preservation, formerly known as the Tissue Culture Laboratory, was established in 1998. It currently consists of three province- or ministry-level platforms including the National Gene Bank of Tropical Crops (Medium-term Bank), the Key Laboratory of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs for the Biology and Cultivation of Chinese Medicinal plants, and the Key Laboratory of Hainan Province for the Genetic Improvement and Innovation of Tropical Crops. The center currently has 22 employees (13 of them are auxiliary staff), including 3 with senior professional titles and 4 with doctoral degrees. There are also 2 staff members awarded as the leading talents of Hainan Province and 1 as 'the Famous of South China Sea' of Hainan Province. During the '13th Five-Year Plan' period, the center was awarded with a first prize of ‘Hainan Provincial Science and Technology Progress’, and published 38 papers, 11 of which were from SCI-indexed journals. The center was also authorized and granted with 7 invention patents, 1 industry standard, and 16 plant variety protection rights. The center is currently funded with CNY 17 million.

　　Research team

　　Dr. Li Xu, senior researcher and director of the Research Center;

　　Hu-Biao Yang, the deputy director.

　　Research orientation

　　Based on the ministry platforms of Gene Bank and Key Laboratory of Hainan Province,

　　the Research center focuses on (1) the research and development of techniques for preserving tropical crop genetic resources with medium/long-term conservation strategies; (2) the detection and control of genetic variations, as well as the use of somatic variation for breeding;

　　(3) the establishment and improvement of the national network for conserving the tropical genetic resources, the breeding materials tested in Hainan, and the globally exchanged plant and animal resources, and promoting the collaboration between genebank and field conservation units. 

　　The research center undertakes or participates in more than 30 projects funded by the ‘National Key Research & Development Program’, ‘National Natural Science Foundation’, ‘Ministry Projects for Conservation of Genetic Resources’, ‘Provincial Key Research & Development Program of Hainan’, ‘Provincial Key Science & Technology Program of Hainan’ and the industry-funded Projects, with a total of CNY 17 million in funding.

　　Research Progress

　　1, The Research Center established the National Gene Bank of Tropical Crops (Medium-term Bank) with more than 3000 accessions currently conserved, and facilitated the collaboration between the gene bank and field collections for the safe conservation of tropical plant genetic resources.

　　2, The research center also focuses on the domestication and cultivation for a medicinal plant Callerya speciasa, and developed various techniques including the collection and conservation of germplasm, the identification and evaluation of species and the in vitro micropropagation of elite cultivars. Based on these efforts, the center has been authorized with 1 identified variety and 15 new variety rights. The ‘Rexuan-1’ has been recommended by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs as the leading variety of C. specisoa for promoted cultivation. The center also issued 3 agricultural standards to the industry as well as 1 standard to the variety identification of tropical crops.