Cryopreservation

Securing the biodiversity of our Reef for future generations.

#The project

An international science collaboration has created the world's largest collection of frozen coral cell samples which have the potential to be used to aid conservation efforts for the Great Barrier Reef far into the future.

The Great Barrier Reef may never again have as much genetic diversity as it does right now. Preserving that biodiversity is critical. So too is the ability to restore damaged coral reefswith the level of coral cover declining as a result of a changing climate and other pressures.

So researchers are working hard to establish and apply the science around coral cryopreservation to create a frozen 'coral bank' for the future. Scientists are collecting and analysing the sperm and eggs of different coral species which they may be able to use in the future to help restore and potentially regenerate the Great Barrier Reef.

Restoring local areas of damaged coral reefs by propagating key coral species and transplanting them back onto the reef is a possibility, but first we need to bank valuable species.

#The process

Since 2011 the Taronga Conservation Society, the Great Barrier Reef Foundation, the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) and the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute have collaborated to collect and cryopreserve sperm and eggs during the once-a-year coral spawning event off the Queensland coast.

Researchers work together each to collect coral sperm, eggs and other tissues and add them to a frozen coral bank located at Taronga Western Plains Zoo in Dubbo. This involves quite a journey for the frozen cells which are carefully transported as far as 1700 kilometres away to Taronga's CryoDiversity Bank. The samples are then 'banked' in chambers of liquid nitrogen at -196°C. At that temperature, metabolic processes stop and the cells can be kept frozen in that state indefinitely to be accessed as needed for future reef restoration efforts.

Over ten spawning seasons have now been conducted with great success. Species that are essential to the structure and function of the reef have been targeted for cryopreservation. The research team has now banked sperm, embryonic cells and tissues from over 20 species of coral from the Great Barrier Reef. New techniques have also been developed, including successful re-animation of cryopreserved sperm and in a world first for the Reef, freezing and rewarming of coral eggs, advancing the much-needed research into cryopreservation technology to support large-scale restoration needs.