Conserving genetic resources of animal species

The idea of the botanical gene bank, where seeds of rare and endangered plants are kept dormant in the deep freeze, to be revived when required, is now widely accepted. Here Dr B.N. Veprintsev of the Institute of Biological Physics and Dr Natalia Rott of the Institute of Developmental Biology of the USSR Academy of Sciences, argue that similar gene banks should be started immediately for rare and endangered animal species and speculate on how it might be possible in the future to reconstruct extinct animals from their germ cells stored in such a bank.