Editorially curated · qa-national-gene-bank
Qatar Gene Bank
Qatar's national ex situ and documentation resource for plant genetic diversity, combining seed and herbarium conservation with field surveys, DNA fingerprinting and biotechnology for identification and drought- and salinity-resilient crop development.
01 / Project overview
What the record establishes.
- Geographic scope
- Nationwide field collection across Qatar and its protected areas
- Project type
- national plant genetic-resources bank and biodiversity documentation platform
- Research domain
- plant genetic resources, biodiversity conservation and climate-resilient agriculture
- Years
- 2012–
- Lifecycle status
- active
- Status basis
- The Ministry of Municipality reported new collection, documentation and international-registration totals during Qatar's June 2026 biodiversity observance.
- Status evidence date
- 2026-06-02
- Scale
- By June 2026 the bank reported 11,366,834 preserved seeds covering about 75% of Qatar's wild plant varieties, 1,404 documented genetic accessions, more than 1,200 field missions, 3,500 herbarium specimens and 894 accessions registered in internationally recognized databases.
02 / Organizations and population
Who and what the project connects.
- Lead organizations
- Qatar Ministry of Municipality Agricultural Research Department · Qatar Ministry of Municipality Biotechnology and Gene Bank Section
- Partner organizations
- Arab Organization for Agricultural Development · Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
- Organism / population
- Qatar's wild and cultivated plant species, preserved as seeds, herbarium material and genetic-resource accessions
03 / Data and access
What exists and how it can be reached.
Data types
- seed accessions
- herbarium vouchers
- plant tissue and DNA
- DNA fingerprinting
- field collection metadata
- taxonomic and passport data
Data access
A public plant-genetic-resources portal provides exchange and contact functions; physical material and detailed records are subject to Ministry and gene-bank access procedures.
Identifiers
No public accession or identifier is listed for this record.
04 / Evidence and provenance
Why the record is included.
Inclusion basis
Named national, long-running genetic-resource platform with large reusable collections, DNA-fingerprinting activity and internationally registered accessions.
Editorial note
The official portal confirms institutional ownership but exposes limited descriptive metadata. Current scale figures come from QNA/Ministry statements reproduced by national media; '75%' is variously described as wild varieties or local species, so wording is kept conservative.
Sources
- primary record source Verified 2026-08-15
- additional record source Verified 2026-08-15
- additional record source Verified 2026-08-15
- additional record source Verified 2026-08-15
- additional record source Verified 2026-08-15
Release v0.2.0