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Editorially curated · ae-icba-genebank-desert-life-sciences
ICBA Genebank and Desert Life Sciences Laboratory
Long-running dryland germplasm collection coupled to a sequencing laboratory supporting whole genomes, genotyping-by-sequencing, transcriptomics, small RNA, and metagenomics.
01 / Project overview
What the record establishes.
- Geographic scope
- Dubai-based international dryland crop and plant collection
- Project type
- agricultural genebank and genomics platform
- Research domain
- crop genomics, biosaline agriculture, and plant genetic resources
- Years
- 2000–
- Lifecycle status
- operational
- Status basis
- ICBA's current facilities pages describe an operating genebank and the genomics-capable Desert Life Sciences Laboratory established through the 2018 BGI collaboration.
- Status evidence date
- 2026-08-15
- Scale
- More than 17,000 accessions, roughly 325 species, and material originating from over 150 countries.
02 / Organizations and population
Who and what the project connects.
- Lead organizations
- International Center for Biosaline Agriculture
- Partner organizations
- BGI
- Organism / population
- Salt-, heat-, and drought-tolerant crops and wild plant germplasm
03 / Data and access
What exists and how it can be reached.
Data types
- seed accessions
- whole-genome sequencing
- genotyping-by-sequencing
- transcriptomics
- small RNA sequencing
- metagenomics
Data access
Germplasm and research collaboration by ICBA request; no single consolidated open genomic portal identified.
Identifiers
No public accession or identifier is listed for this record.
04 / Evidence and provenance
Why the record is included.
Inclusion basis
Major UAE-based reusable agricultural genetic-resource collection with explicit multi-omics infrastructure.
Editorial note
Start year refers to the genebank's establishment era; the Desert Life Sciences Laboratory component was launched in 2018.
Sources
- primary record source Verified 2026-08-15
- additional record source Verified 2026-08-15
- additional record source Verified 2026-08-15
Release v0.2.0