The initiative aims to sequence the genome of the almost two million species of plants, animals and fungi that have been described on Earth.
It is called the Earth BioGenome Project (EBP) and it is made up of more than 5,000 scientists from around the world, united with a common goal: to sequence the genome of all forms of life on Earth to obtain the most complete ‘genetic atlas’ of the biodiversity of the planet.
The initiative, which has just successfully passed the testing phase and is now starting large-scale work, aims to sequence the genome of the almost two million species of plants, animals and fungi that have been described on Earth and of those who until now only 0.5 percent have been sequenced.
But, probably, the most special thing about the project is not its size or the unimaginable benefits it will bring, but “the enthusiasm of the scientists who have launched it and who are coordinating the largest initiative in the history of biology,” he points out. Harris Lewin, coordinator of the EBP and Ecologist at the University of California, Davis.
a network of networks
The EBP is a network of networks, that is, an integrated initiative based on specific, local or national scientific projects that have been added to this global effort as if it were a puzzle.
“It emerged as an initiative without a budget, as a union of scientists who tried to coordinate to sequence genomes and ensure that this information was useful, legible, comparable and accessible to everyone,” explains Tomás Marqués-Bonet, ICREA researcher at EFE. the Institute of Evolutionary Biology (IBE) and a member of the Vertebrate Genomes Project, the group from which the EBP was born.
Currently, the EBP is made up of large projects such as the Darwin Tree of Life (to sequence the genome of the 66,000 species of the British Isles), the 10,000 Bird Genomes Project or the California Initiative Project, as well as consortia such as the European Reference Genome Atlas (ERGA), which coordinates the work of European groups such as ERGA-Spain.
Total, the project includes 5,000 scientists and technical staff from 44 institutions in 22 countries on all continents, except Antarctica.
a scientific legacy
For Marqués-Bonet, sequencing the genome of the Earth’s species is essential. “Biodiversity is at risk. We have known for a long time that we are in the sixth mass extinction due to human action and that species are disappearing at a rate never seen before since there are records, that is why the EBP is important, to preserve a genetic legacy for future generations before they disappear”.
And it is that with each species that disappears We not only lose biodiversity, but also “the opportunity to learn something that can be important for humans and for our health or economy”, warns the Catalan biologist.
This pandemic, for example, has shown us how important it is to know our surroundings: “If we had not sequenced the virus that causes covid, we would not be able to carry out PCRs, nor would we know the variants such as the omicron”, explains Corominas.
“And if we had sequenced all the species that we know transmit covid, We would have previously determined the genetic basis of the genes involved, the variants, why some transmit it and others do not., why some get sicker and others don’t…”, adds Marqués-Bonet.
Because, When this genetic atlas is complete, it will be invaluable to scientists in all fields: cancer, epidemics, sustainable agriculture, the fight against climate change, pharmacology, or the resistance of bacteria to antibiotics.the researcher advances.
“This project can give results that we have not even imagined yet, but that will be extremely useful for humanity,” agrees Corominas.
Earth Genome, in a decade
To carry out the project, scientists and technicians must collect the samples, document them and keep them in biobanks.
After, they extract DNA and sequence it following certain standards so that the information obtained is comparable and readable for everyone and, finally, it is digitally classified in databases accessible to everyone.
Since the project began, in 2018, about 200 species have been sequenced (representative of all biodiversity), classified into taxonomic groups, which come to be “the drawers” that help to catalog biology (species, genus, family, order, etc.), Corominas specifies.
For this year, the EBP expects to sequence the genome of nearly 3,000 taxonomic families, in order to have at least one representative of each family, and from there, expand to complete the genomic atlas of the planet’s biodiversity in the next decade.
When completed, “the atlas will give scientists all fields the genetic information necessary to understand the molecular basis of the different forms of life and use it for the benefit of humanity”, explains Marqués-Bonet. (I)
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