E-Letter responses to:

letters: Vincent Savolainen and Gail Reeves A Plea for DNA Banking Science 2004; 304: 1445b [Full text] [PDF]

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DNA banking for animal DNA

Angelique P Corthals   (30 July 2004)

DNA banking for animal DNA 30 July 2004
Angelique P Corthals, Curatorial Associate, Ambrose Monell Collection for Molecular and Microbial Research American Museum of Natural History Respond to this E-Letter: Re: DNA banking for animal DNA	I would like to respond to Vincent Savolainen and Gail Reeves' claims that "Very few DNA banks have been established" and that "No such broad DNA banking program yet exists for animals." In May of 2001, the AMNH established a new collection unit dedicated to the cryo-preservation of tissue specimens, the Ambrose Monell Cryo Collection (AM-CC), seeking to establish this collection as a long-term, specimen- based record of global biodiversity at the molecular level, with the goal of developing tissue collections that are as synoptic and diverse as traditional dried and spirit preserved collections. The AM-CC is by no mean the only, or even lonely, repository with this kind of goal. There are many museums who have seen the necessity of DNA banking, and while it is true that many institutions have yet to actually implement such facilities (mostly for financial reasons), I know from experience (as the director of the AMNH frozen tissue bank, and consultant on the subject), that many academic institutions are actively building facilities that would house the molecular products stemming from their research. I therefore wish to temper Vincent Savolainen and Gail Reeve's claims about effort in DNA banking. It is ongoing in all major institutions around the world.