Scientists from seven institutes in China and abroad have completed the world's first whole genome sequencing of an endangered species of orchid in a historic research initiated by a Shenzhen institute.

The work is expected to be put to bio-pharmaceutical use in two years. Medicines developed from knowledge about the genome of the orchid, phalaenopsis equestris, are expected to improve immunity and slow the aging process, among other efficacies.

The research results of the whole genome sequencing of phalaenopsis equestris, an important parental species for orchid breeding, were published on November 25 by Nature Genetics.