Microbe hunt raises doubts over benefits of bioprospecting

Nature | 14 November 2002

MICROBE HUNT RAISES DOUBTS OVER LOCAL BENEFITS OF BIOPROSPECTING

David Cyranoski

[TOKYO] Controversy is likely to follow an international consortium of scientists -- including researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences -- as it embarks on a search for commercially useful microbes in the politically contested areas of Tibet and Inner Mongolia.

The scientists will be on the lookout for previously unknown extremophiles -- microorganisms that live in inhospitable environments such as salt lakes and hot springs. But it is unclear if the two regions involved will benefit from any discoveries that are made.

The project is being led by microbiologist Bill Grant from the University of Leicester, UK, and includes scientists from the University of Seville in Spain, and the Netherlands branch of the US genomics company Genencor. Its main sponsor is the European Commission, which has donated 1 million euros (US$1 million). The University of the Western Cape in Cape Town, South Africa, will bring its own funding to the consortium.

The researchers will isolate microbial DNA on site directly from the soil. They will sequence the DNA and search DNA databases for sequences encoding enzymes that give the microbes their special characteristics.

Grant and Genencor have already shown that the strategy can be commercially successful. A collaborative expedition to Kenya in 1992 found an extremophile in a soda lake that has an enzyme that breaks down cellulose over an unusually wide range of temperatures. In 1998, Genencor exploited this property in a process for stonewashing jeans.

China hopes to gain commercially from the project. Its science ministry has negotiated with the consortium to retain "sovereign rights" to biological resources found and a share in any commercialization, says Yanhe Ma of the Chinese Academy of Sciences Institute of Microbiology in Beijing, a member of the consortium. But there is no indication so far that a fair share of the benefits will filter back to Tibet and Inner Mongolia -- contentious "autonomous regions" of China -- or even that the issue has been discussed. China's autonomous regions are supposed to retain a degree of control over local economic interests, but many commentators argue that Beijing has neglected these rights.

The United Nations' Convention on Biological Diversity, which the European Commission and China signed in 1992, aims to ensure that countries, particularly indigenous and local communities, benefit fairly if their biodiversity proves to be commercially valuable. Ma says that local governments will be helping them with the project, but he gives no details of any plans to bring work or other benefits to the local people.

Huanming Yang, director of the Beijing Genomics Institute and an advocate of the protection of China's genetic resources, says that scientists from local communities should be involved. Chinese researchers should be sensitive to such issues, he says, but foreign researchers should also bear responsibility. John Ackerly, president of the Washington-based human-rights group International Campaign for Tibet, agrees. "It's the responsibility of the European researchers to make sure that Tibetans are engaged and given benefits, because Beijing won't do it," he says.

But this is not an easy task. "How could an outsider possibly go about pushing the issue of regional recognition?" asks consortium member Don Cowan of the University of the Western Cape.

Nature © Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2002