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The Earth BioGenome Project (EBP), a global effort to sequence the genetic code of all 1.5 million known animal, plant, protozoan and fungal species on Earth, officially launches today (1 November) as key scientific partners and funders from around the globe gather in London, UK to discuss progress in organising and funding the project.
The Earth BioGenome Project will ultimately create a new foundation for biology to drive solutions for preserving biodiversity and sustaining human societies.
The EBP aims to sequence, catalogue and categorise the genomes of all of Earth’s eukaryotic* biodiversity over a period of ten years. The projected cost of the EBP is $4.7 billion. Accounting for inflation, the Human Genome Project today would cost $5 billion.
The EBP will be made possible by recent and future advances in sequencing and information technology that will enable the reading and interpretation of tens of thousands of species’ genomes each year by partner institutions across the globe.
The Earlham Institute is a partner of the EBP’s UK effort, known as the Darwin Tree of Life Project, which also launches today. EI’s expertise in vertebrate genomics, coupled with their advanced technology platforms and bioinformatics techniques will contribute to the task of sequencing 66,000 species in the UK, led by the Wellcome Sanger Institute. EI is already putting this into action as part of international conservation genomics projects aiming to rescue endangered species and boost biodiversity against economic and political backdrops.
EI’s Director of Science Prof Federica di Palma, said: “Our conservation work with international partners, and more recently our GCRF work in Colombia is demonstrating how equally important biodiversity is to the climate change context in both developing, and developed countries like the UK. As these countries adapt to new policy landscapes and evolving political challenges, there has never been a greater need for academics, NGOs, businesses and decision-makers to join forces to collectively characterise, conserve and manage earth’s species for sustainable economic growth and social well-being. The Global impact BRIDGE Colombia network is a great example of how to facilitate crucial dialogue and collaborative partnerships around these pressing environmental issues.”
A greater understanding of Earth’s biodiversity and the responsible stewarding of its resources are among the most crucial scientific and social challenges of the new millennium. The overcoming of these challenges requires new scientific knowledge of evolution and interactions among millions of the planet’s organisms.
Currently, fewer than 3,500, or about 0.2 per cent of all known eukaryotic species have had their genome sequenced. By sequencing all genes of all life, it will revolutionise our understanding of biology and evolution, bolster efforts to conserve, help protect and restore biodiversity, and in return create new benefits for society and human welfare.
Professor Harris Lewin, University of California, Davis, United States and Chair of the Earth BioGenome Project, said: “The Earth BioGenome Project can be viewed as infrastructure for the new biology. Having the roadmap, the blueprints for all living species of eukaryotes will be a tremendous resource for new discoveries, understanding the rules of life, how evolution works, new approaches for the conservation of rare and endangered species, and provide new resources for researchers in agricultural and medical fields.”
The EBP has made extraordinary progress in the last year leading up to the official launch. So far, a collaboration of 17 institutions from across the globe, including the USA, United Kingdom, China, Germany, Denmark and Brazil, has come together and signed a Memorandum of Understanding** that commits each institution to work together toward the common goals of the project.
The amount of biological data that will be produced from this project is expected to be more than the data accumulated by Twitter, YouTube or astronomy. All of the data will be stored in public domain databases and made freely available for research use. The project’s participants have agreed in the EBP Memorandum of Understanding that data access will be open to all while conforming to the Convention on Biodiversity and the Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit Sharing.
This project will build on recent achievements of sequencing sets of species’ genomes for the first time. For example, the Vertebrate Genomes Project, which aims to sequence the genetic code of all extant vertebrates, released the genomes of 14 species, including bat and fish species, the Canadian Lynx and Kakapo***.
To mark the 25th anniversary of the Wellcome Sanger Institute, the institute and its collaborators sequenced the genomes of 25 species found in the United Kingdom (UK) for the first time****, including Red and Grey squirrels, the European robin, Fen raft spider and Blackberry. The completed genome sequences will lead to future studies to understand the biodiversity of the UK and aid the conservation and understanding of UK species.
The Sanger Institute will lead the UK contribution to the EBP by sequencing all 66,000 eukaryotic species across the British Isles, in a new project known as the Darwin Tree of Life Project. The Sanger has committed to creating a new programme of research, called the Tree of Life programme, to fulfil this mission and will work alongside partners at the Natural History Museum in London, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Earlham Institute, EMBL-EBI and Edinburgh Genomics at the University of Edinburgh.
Professor Sir Mike Stratton, Director of the Wellcome Sanger Institute, said: “Globally, more than half of the vertebrate population has been lost in the past 40 years, and 23,000 species face the threat of extinction in the near future. Using the biological insights we will get from the genomes of all eukaryotic species, we can look to our responsibilities as custodians of life on this planet, tending life on Earth in a more informed manner using those genomes, at a time when nature is under considerable pressure, not least from us.”
Sir Jim Smith, Director of Science at Wellcome, said: “When the Human Genome Project began 25 years ago, we could not imagine how the DNA sequence produced back then would transform research into human health and disease today. Embarking on a mission to sequence all life on Earth is no different. From nature, we shall gain insights into how to develop new treatments for infectious diseases, identify drugs to slow ageing, generate new approaches to feeding the world or create new biomaterials.
