Will panda go extinct? – Genome map kicks off debate over panda conservation

By Venus Lee

The giant panda, an endangered Chinese national treasure, remains laboriously protected from extinction by millions of state yuan spent on its habitat and elaborate breeding programs. Last Sunday, a study that mapped the panda’s genome concluded that from the biological standpoint, the animal cannot go extinct. The findings triggered a debate over the future of the country’s expensive panda conservation programs.

The genome map, a chromosome reconstruction that shows the relative position of an organism’s genes, shows that pandas prefer a bamboo diet because thy cannot taste the flavor of meat. This information could hold the key to ensuring the species’ survival.

The study, led by the Beijing Genomics Institute’s branch in Shenzhen, found that pandas likely roamed the Earthas far back as 3 million years ago, and that their genetic makeup evolves slower than that of humans and other mammals.

The panda’s genome sequence shows no genes producing the enzyme needed to break down celllose. “The panda’s bamboo diet may be dictated byhe bacteria in its stomach rather than by its genetic composition,” said Wang Jun, a scientist with the institute who led the sequencing project.

Mutations in certain sequences of the animal’s taste gene, which can affect its ability to taste savory flavors such as meat and other high-protein foods, may have turned them toward a strict bamboo diet, the study says.

Further findings from 3-year-old female panda Jinjing, which provided the DNA samples, suggest that the decline in the giant panda population is not due to inbreeding but to variations in its DNA. From this the researchers deduced that pandas will not go extinct.

The genome map details 21,000 genes packed into 21 pairs of chromosomes. Among animals whose genes have been sequenced, the closest to the panda is the dog, with an 80 percent likeness. The map also shows that pandas are a subspecies of the bear family ursidae, confirming results from studies conducted last year and earlier this year.

“This is very exciting for the giant panda research community because much of it isnew to us,” said Zhang Liming, a researcher at the Wolong Panda Nature Reserve in Sichuan Province. “Further research involving genome mapping will help us develop better technology for giant panda breeding and disease prevention.”

Only 1,600 pandas live in the wild, mostly in Sichuan Province. A hundred and twenty are in Chinese breeding facilities and zoos, and about 20 live in zoos outside the country, according to the China Giant Panda Protection and Research Center.