Preserving Fall’s Harvest: From Apples to Endangered Plants

Posted October 21, 2024 by Aislyn Tyler

Happy National Apple Day! Did you know? The USDA uses cryopreservation to safeguard the genetic diversity of apples, ensuring that rare and valuable varieties are preserved. Here at the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden, our Center for Conservation and Research of Endangered Wildlife (CREW) is doing something similar for Exceptional Plants!

Exceptional Plants can’t be stored using traditional seed-banking methods. These plants might be sensitive to freezing, produce very few seeds, or may not produce seeds at all! Instead, our Scientists isolate shoot tips from the plants and treat them with solutions to protect the tissue during freezing in liquid nitrogen.

This groundbreaking work helps us preserve the genetic diversity of these unique plants, ensuring they’re not lost to time—just like how the USDA protects apple varieties.