What is NAGB?

Enormous technological advancements in recent decades has meant that molecular genetic methods are gradually becoming a routine tool in zoological research and, as such, the collection of genetic sample material has become part of many wildlife research projects, replacing, to some extent, the collection of whole animal bodies and the creation of taxidermy mounts. Moreover, the importance of preserving biological material has grown as the loss of Earth’s species has accelerated, with such collections not only serving as evidence of (previously) existing biodiversity but also enabling the monitoring of changes in genetic diversity in space and time, thereby helping answer questions on the causes of threats or extinction in specific populations. In this way, genetic collections not only contribute to zoological research but also species conservation. Consequently, Genetic Banks were established at the Department of Zoology, Charles University (in 2014) and at the Institute of Vertebrate Biology, Czech Academy of Sciences (IVB Genetic Bank, in 2015), along with the National Animal Genetic Bank of the Czech Republic (NAGB).

The National Animal Genetic Bank (NAGB) is a network of institutions that share an interest in long-term quality preservation of animal genomic samples and the publication of sample data in widely accessible databases in order to increase its availability for further research. The NAGB was established as an initiative of the Institute of Vertebrate Biology, Czech Academy of Sciences (IVB), which also houses the NAGB Secretariat, and the Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, at Charles University in Prague. In addition to organisations that operate their own genetic collections, NAGB network members also include organisations that contribute to the preservation of biological material in other ways, e.g. as providers of samples to one of the member collections. In order to increase the quantity and diversity of available material, the NAGB invites other, as yet uninvolved, institutions working with biological material to join the network.

Data on available samples are continuously published in the NAGB database on this webpages and also on the data portal of the international network of non-human genomic samples the Global Genome Biodiversity Network (GGBN). So far (end of 2022), almost 17 000 genomic samples have been published from 18 countries and four continents. A large part of these samples is represented by a collection of small terrestrial mammals from eastern sub-Saharan Africa and a collection of European songbirds. Other more numerous collection represents most of the fish species occurring in Central Europe. The published data also includes African and European bats, small terrestrial mammals from the Balkans, the Middle East and Russia, and individual samples of also other vertebrates from Central Europe. In addition to wildlife, more than 1 800 samples from domestic chicken breeds and captive-bred parrots are also available from the bank. Thousands more samples are still waiting to be processed and published.