NATIONAL SYMBOL: Giant pandas eat bamboo in Wolong Giant Panda Reserve, in Sichuan Province. Chinese scientists have mapped the genome of the panda, which could lead to a better understanding of the rare species?genetic features

The zoo in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, has received crowds of visitors in recent weeks, flocking in to see a female giant panda called Susu.

Susu holds a special role in panda history. She is the mother of Jingjing, a female panda studied by scientists to create a genome draft map of the giant panda, which was finalized on October 11.

According to scientists, the genomic information gathered from Jingjing will have an extensive impact in numerous scientific areas from ecology to evolution to sequencing technology. Such data will aid in understanding the genetic and biological underpinnings of this unique species, especially with regard to its very specific niche in the environment and the molecular mechanisms of its evolution.

"We hope the genome map could help genetically explain why giant pandas have little reproductive capability so that scientists can help them deliver more cubs," Wang Jun, a scientist at the Beijing Genomics Institute's Shenzhen branch (BGI Shenzhen), was quoted as saying by China Daily. BGI Shenzhen is a core participant in the International Giant Panda Genome Project.

The genome map of the rare species could give an explanation to such questions as why pandas like feeding on bamboo, why they have black circles around their eyes, why they produce few offspring and why cubs weigh only 1 percent of their mothers' weight, according to Wang.

Jingjing was a popular icon before she was singled out for the gene study. Born in the Chengdu Giant Panda Breeding and Research Base in Sichuan Province on August 30, 2005, she was the model for the Beijing Olympic fuwa mascot that shares her name.

According to Shi Bin, Jingjing's breeder, the panda has been a model of health, barely ever falling sick and weighing in perfectly at every growing phase.

In March 2008, the International Giant Panda Genome Project was launched, with a primary goal to finish the sequencing and assembling of the draft sequence within six months with joint efforts of scientists from China, Britain, the United States, Denmark and Canada.

"The most noteworthy aspect of the project is that it is the first genome project to be undertaken specifically to gather information that will contribute to conservation efforts for an endangered species," said participant Oliver Ryder at the San Diego Zoo's Center for Conservation and Research for Endangered Species. "The giant panda is a global conservation symbol and deserving of such an effort."

Given the animal is referred to as a living fossil and China's national treasure, the giant panda has been the focal point of many research projects. However, little research has been done on a genomic scale.

Experts of the genome project said that the giant panda has a genome size of about 3 Gb, which is approximately the same size as the human genome, and is thought to have 20,000-30,000 genes. "We have done such a huge amount of research that if we compiled the genome sequence into a book, it would be as tall as Shenzhen's 384-meter-high Diwang Tower," said BGI Shenzhen's Wang.

The new genome results indicate that the genome of the dog is the closest to the giant panda in structure, at 80 percent, and it has a great similarity at 68 percent, to human beings. The data also supports the viewpoint held by a majority of scientists that "the giant panda is a subspecies of bear."

But of the biggest interest, scientists are trying to find out why giant pandas are so rarely sexually active, as this lack of libido has contributed to the rare species' population decline.

"We hope the genome map could help genetically explain why giant pandas have little reproductive capability so that scientists can help them deliver more cubs," Wang said.

A detailed genome sequence of the panda will be finished by the end of this year, according to expert Yang Huanming with BGI Shenzhen.

China is home to about 1,590 wild pandas, most of which live in Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu provinces. There were 239 pandas living in captivity in the country in 2007.

Great progress in genetics studies and genome sequencing has been made by Chinese scientists in the past few years. They have contributed to the genome sequencing of rice paddies, silkworms, hens and pigs. In October 2007, they finished sequencing the first human genome of the Han Chinese.