Earth BioGenome Project
DurationNovember 1, 2018 – 2028
Websitewww.earthbiogenome.org

The Earth BioGenome Project (EBP) is an initiative that aims to sequence and catalog the genomes of all of Earth's currently described eukaryotic species over a period of ten years.[1] The initiative would produce an open DNA database of biological information that provides a platform for scientific research and supports environmental and conservation initiatives.[2] A scientific paper presenting the vision for the project was published in PNAS in April 2018,[3] and the project officially launched November 1, 2018.[4]

The initiative was inspired by Human Genome Project, and emerged during November 2015 meeting between Harris Lewin (UCD), Gene E. Robinson (IGB) and W. John Kress (Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History).[3][5] In February 2017, at major conference on genomics and biodiversity organized by the Smithsonian Institution and BGI in Washington, D.C. was supported project's 10-year plan and organizational structure.[3]

Summary

The project is projected to cost US$4.7 billion.[1] It includes already ongoing projects such as i5K (insects),[6] B10K (birds), 10KP (plants),[7][8] and the Darwin Tree of Life, which aim to sequence the estimated 66,000 eukaryotic species in the United Kingdom.[1] The project is aiming to sequence and annotate the roughly 1.5 million known eukaryotic species in three phases, with first to create "annotated chromosome-scale reference assemblies for at least one representative species of each of the ~9,000 eukaryotic taxonomic families".[3][8]

According to PNAS paper, several sequencing centers are supporting the project, including BGI (China), Baylor College of Medicine (USA), Wellcome Sanger Institute (UK), Rockefeller University (US), with an additional center to be established for the project in South America by São Paulo Research Foundation.[3] As for bio-observatories which use genomics, examples which meet the project needs are National Ecological Observatory Network, Chinese Ecological Research Network, ForestGEO, and MarineGEO.[3] To provide insight into the feasibility and technical requirements for "planetary scale" projects such as this, the 10,000 Plant Genome Project has published a pilot "Digitalization of Ruili Botanical Garden" project sampling and sequencing 761 vascular plant specimens growing in a Botanical Garden in South West China.[9]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c "Life on Earth to have its DNA analysed in the name of conservation". Nature. 563 (7730): 155–156. November 2018. Bibcode:2018Natur.563..155.. doi:10.1038/d41586-018-07323-y. PMID 30401859.
  2. ^ "Sequencing the world". The Economist. January 23, 2018. Archived from the original on January 24, 2018. Retrieved February 3, 2018.
  3. ^ a b c d e f Lewin HA, Robinson GE, Kress WJ, Baker WJ, Coddington J, Crandall KA, et al. (April 2018). "Earth BioGenome Project: Sequencing life for the future of life". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 115 (17): 4325–4333. Bibcode:2018PNAS..115.4325L. doi:10.1073/pnas.1720115115. PMC 5924910. PMID 29686065.
  4. ^ "Scientists Launch Effort to Map DNA of Every Species". The Presidential Daily Brief: Intriguing. OZY. November 2, 2018. Retrieved November 2, 2018.
  5. ^ Daley J (5 November 2018). "Ambitious Project to Sequence Genomes of 1.5 Million Species Kicks Off". Smithsonian. Retrieved 3 December 2018.
  6. ^ i5K Consortium (2013-09-01). "The i5K Initiative: advancing arthropod genomics for knowledge, human health, agriculture, and the environment". The Journal of Heredity. 104 (5): 595–600. doi:10.1093/jhered/est050. PMC 4046820. PMID 23940263.((cite journal)): CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  7. ^ Cheng S, Melkonian M, Smith SA, Brockington S, Archibald JM, Delaux PM, et al. (March 2018). "10KP: A phylodiverse genome sequencing plan". GigaScience. 7 (3): 1–9. doi:10.1093/gigascience/giy013. PMC 5869286. PMID 29618049.
  8. ^ a b Exposito-Alonso, Moises; Drost, Hajk-Georg; Burbano, Hernán; Weigel, Detlef (2020-04-01). "The Earth BioGenome project: Opportunities and Challenges for Plant Genomics and Conservation". The Plant Journal. 102 (2): 222–229. doi:10.1111/tpj.14631. PMID 31788877.
  9. ^ Liu H, Wei J, Yang T, Mu W, Song B, Yang T, et al. (January 2019). "Molecular digitization of a botanical garden: high-depth whole genome sequencing of 689 vascular plant species from the Ruili Botanical Garden". GigaScience. 8 (4). doi:10.1093/gigascience/giz007. PMC 6441391. PMID 30689836.

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