The Study of Metabolic By-Products of Farm Livestock: Prospects for the Creation of a Biobank

Abstract

Biobanks are a valuable resource for conducting all types of studies, since they are fundamental structures which contain accessible and defined biological samples of various types and related data. Biobanking includes collection, treatment, storage and distribution of samples and allows conducting a wide range of biomedical research with a significant number of samples, thus ensuring the quality of results and compliance with standard laboratory methods. The literature search confirmed an insignificant activity in the animal biobanking sector when compared to that of human biobanking. In addition, the collection of samples associated with farm livestock is of considerable scientific and practical interest. Experimental work, which is carried out using the biological material collected and stored during large-scale studies (also involving the capabilities of citizen science), allows not only identifying the parameters characteristic of animal physiology features, but also discovering new types of biotechnologically promising microorganisms. The approach to the sampling process requires special attention, since the quality of the selected biological material is crucial in the research process. Moreover, the methods and approaches of citizen science can significantly expand the territorial and geographical coverage of sampling sites, which will enable to increase the reliability of the scientific data obtained. The biobank acts as a link connecting professional studies and "citizen science", organizes and coordinates the process of their interaction. The paper presents the experience of organizing the biobank of Tomsk State University which is aimed to store the samples of metabolic by-products of agriculturally significant animals (manure, droppings, compost, and samples of fermented dairy products). In addition, the strains of agriculturally significant microorganisms isolated while studying the collected biological material are stored in the biobank. The biobank acts as a unique structure of its kind, a "universal tool" created for implementation of large-scale research projects. When implementing major biological research projects which involve conducting large-scale studies (for example, the projects as part of the federal scientific and technical program for the development of genetic technologies for 2019-2027 approved by the Russian Federation Government Decree No 1930 as of December 28, 2019), there arises an urgent issue of obtaining biological material for the studies. As part of the project under implementation, The TSU Biobank of Agriculturally Significant Microorganisms (TSU Biobank of ASM), a bioresource collection of the samples of metabolic by-products of agriculturally significant animals and strains of agriculturally significant microorganisms isolated while studying the collected biological material was created. The biobank was created in order to ensure proper storage conditions for the samples, cultures of ASM, and genomic DNA collected during the project implementation, and provide information about the sources of samples and biological material, and their use in biotechnology. The biobank regulations – a document regulating the biobank activities – was designed, and a list of documents which guide the biobank in its activities was presented. General provisions, including general requirements for organization of the biobank's activities, its functions and powers, and the rules for reception/storage/distribution of biological material and associated information were also provided. The biobank acts as a unique link between professional science and citizen science. It is the context of biobanking where the works of professional scientists can be combined with the contribution of "citizen scientists". In this case, the biobank acts as a controlling link, a source of criteria and methods for assessing the quality of biological material entering the biobank, since the quality of the received biological material may differ significantly depending on the degree of professionalism of a person who collects samples.The article contains 2 Figures, 22 References.