Tuesday 8 February 2022

Earth BioGenome Project begins genome sequencing



 

A global effort to map the genomes of all plants, animals, fungi and other microbial life on Earth, is entering a new phase as it moves from pilot projects to full-scale production sequencing. 

 

 

Launched in November 2018, the goal of the EBP is to provide a complete DNA sequence catalog of all 1.8 million named species of plants, animals and fungi as well as single-celled eukaryotes.

 

Earth is forecast to lose 50% of its biodiversity by the end of this century without action to curb climate change and protect the health of global ecosystems. Creating a digital library of DNA sequences for all known eukaryotic life can help generate effective tools for preventing biodiversity loss and pathogen spread, monitoring and protecting ecosystems, and enhancing ecosystem services.

 

The project functions as an international network of networks, coordinating numerous group-specific, regional and national-scale efforts, such as the California Conservation Genome Project (U.S.), Darwin Tree of Life Project (Great Britain and Ireland), the Vertebrate Genome Project and the 10,000 Bird Genomes Project.

 

The first two years of the EBP, 2018-20, represented the startup phase. The goal for phase 1, through 2023, is to produce reference genomes representing about 9,400 taxonomic families. So far, affiliated projects have produced about 200 such reference genomes, with sequencing, assembly and annotation of more than 3,000 expected to be completed by the end of 2022, representing about one-third of the phase 1 goal.

 

As of December 2021, the project includes 5,000 scientists and technical staff at 44 member institutions in 22 countries on every continent except Antarctica. There are 49 affiliated projects covering most of the major taxonomic groups of eukaryotes, which have access to tens of thousands of high-quality samples from museum collections and field biologists. Most recently, a group of African institutions in 22 countries came online as the Africa BioGenome Project. BIOSCAN, which is implementing DNA barcode technology for discovering and identifying species, and the Global Virome Project, an effort to discover new viruses that might pose pandemic threats, have also joined as affiliates.

 

Major activities of the first three years have included developing and evaluating standards and strategies, organizing regional, national, and transnational projects, and building communities through regular working committee meetings and an annual conference.

 

Reference:

 

Harris A. Lewin, Stephen Richards, Erez Lieberman et al The Earth BioGenome Project 2020: Starting the clock. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2022; 119 (4): e2115635118 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2115635118

 

Posted by Dr. Tim Sandle, Pharmaceutical Microbiology Resources (http://www.pharmamicroresources.com/)

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