The World First Gene Id Code of Pandas Was Born in Zhejiang University
May 15, 2001

On Feb. 22, Fang Shengguo, a professor from the College of Life Sciences, demonstrated in public the first gene identification code of wild pandas in the world and a complete gene census record of wild panda population in the two national nature preserves in Foping, Shanxi Province and Tangjiahe, Sichuan Province. Both achievements are made by the research group under Professor Fang in the key laboratory of the Ministry of Education for the protection, inheritance and reproduction of extinguishing wild animals, at a time when the management of census registration of human beings is still in an electronic age, we find that of the wild pandas has already stepped into a gene epoch.

What is the exact number of wild pandas existing now? What are their sexes? What is the genetic relationship between their families? All these questions are being focused both in China and other countries. In order to formulate a proper regulation for wild panda species protection, and to carry out the open field protection plan as well as resettlement protection plan in artificial breeding, the relevant national administrative departments must organize research institutes to study the amount and the structure of wild panda population, so as to learn their existing situation in the open. In recent years, in order to improve the method of the identification of the amount and the structure of wild pandas in field investigation, and to promote the dynamic monitoring and management, professor Fang's research group has carried out a methodological exploration in this field. After they finished the earlier work of the panda's fingerprint probe preparation and its full genome DNA distilling, and solved such difficult problems as obtaining the wild panda's gene materials and clarifying its family structure, a united research group including Zhejiang University, the Animal Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chengdu Panda Breeding & Research Base, and the national nature preserves in Foping and Tangjia etc. began from August 1998 to make a carpet collection of samples of pandas' dejecta as well as hair within an area of 900 square kilometer, and extracted a full panda genome DNA for each sample in laboratories, and got from each sample a genic fingerprint chart through the gene probe testing; and finally identified the number of wild pandas and their family membership after an analysis by an OCR software in the computer. Then, they identified the sex of each wild panda by the sex identification gene testing reagent box developed by them. Based on the preceding results of this research, Professor Fang Shengguo completed the construction of wild panda's individual genic identification card management system and census management system for the two nature preserves on Feb. 22. It is said that each identification card is composed of two parts: one is the traditional digital codes, which include country code, provincial (or autonomous region) code, regional code, county code, preserve code, family code, and individual code; the other is a genic bar code determined by the sex as well as the individual itself. The genic bar code is unique with its probability of error of only 1/1.6 billion. So when we get together all the genic codes of pandas in a nature preserve, a complete census record of pandas comes into being with one nature preserve as a management unit. With this genic identifying system and genic census record system, once an unknown panda is discovered under a dynamic monitoring process, its sex and family can be identified through a genic testing, and it would be given a genic identification card, to be registered on the census record. If one of the pandas is dead or captured in the open field, the manager may know through this method to which family it belongs, and then cancel its census registration as a wild panda. As for artificially bred population, managers can avoid inbreeding when they choose the parents for artificial reproduction.

In the present time, all over the world, only Professor Fang's laboratory is capable of proceeding with dejecta as the material source of gene. As a matter of fact, the nucleotide sequence of the genic probe as well as the method of pandas' full-length genome DNA distilled from detecta have already acquired the national patent.

According to Professor Fang, pandas, which are on the verge of extinction, live only in China. It is difficult to obtain their material; neither can we take samples from them damagingly. So we first studied the material source, the wild panda's dejecta, from which we extracted the cellule tissue shed from its alimentary canal, and then discovered the genome DNA and test pandas with probes to make sure the exact number of pandas in the open field, and their family structure as well as the inheritance relationship. Thus the panda's genic identification card is made and the census management record for the preserve is at the same time established.