A MAJOR PROJECT TO SEQUENCE THE GENOME OF EVERY COMPLEX SPECIES ON EARTH IS UNDERWAY

The Earth Biogenome Project is speeding up its efforts to sequence the genomes of all complex life on Earth (about 1.8 million described species) in ten years.

Two multi-authored papers published on Tuesday outline the project's beginnings, goals, and progress. It will forever revolutionise the way biological research is conducted once it is completed.

Researchers will be able to explore the DNA sequence library of any organism that exhibits interesting features, rather than being limited to a few "model species." This new knowledge will aid our understanding of how complex life evolved, functions, and how biodiversity may be preserved.

The initiative was first proposed in 2016, and I had the honour of speaking at its London debut in 2018. It is currently transitioning from the startup stage to full-scale production.

Phase one's goal is to sequence one genome from each of the Earth's 9,400 taxonomic families. One-third of these species should be finished by the end of 2022. Phase two will see a representative from each of the 180,000 genera sequenced, while phase three will see all of the species sequenced. The significance of strange species The Earth Biogenome Project's overarching goal is to sequence the genomes of all 1.8 million complex living species on the planet. All plants, animals, fungi, and single-celled creatures with genuine nuclei fall within this category (that is, all "eukaryotes").

While model organisms such as mice, rock cress, fruit flies, and nematodes have been crucial in our understanding of gene activities, being able to study additional species that work in a different way is a major advantage.

The study of obscure organisms yielded several fundamental biological ideas. Genes, for example, were identified in peas by Gregor Mendel, and the principles that regulate them were discovered in red bread mould.

DNA was first identified in salmon sperm, and study on tardigrades taught us about some of the systems that keep it safe. Mealworms had the first chromosomes, and a beetle had the first sex chromosomes (sex chromosome action and evolution have also been explored in fish and platypus). Also identified in pond scum were telomeres, which are the caps at the ends of chromosomes.

Answering biological problems and preserving biodiversity are two of the most important things we can do. Comparing closely related and distantly related species gives researchers a huge advantage in figuring out what genes do and how they are regulated. For example, my University of Canberra colleagues and I revealed that Australian dragon lizards regulate sex through the chromosome neighbourhood of a sex gene, rather than the DNA sequence itself, in another PNAS work published today.

Scientists can also utilise species comparisons to track genes and regulatory systems back to their evolutionary beginnings, revealing remarkable gene function conservation over almost a billion years. The same genes are involved in the development of human retinas and fruit fly photoreceptors, for example. In plants and animals, the BRCA1 gene, which is mutated in breast cancer, is responsible for mending DNA breaks.

Animal genomes are also significantly more conserved than previously thought. For example, a group of colleagues and I recently established that animal chromosomes date back 684 million years.

Exploring the genome's "dark matter" and revealing how DNA sequences that don't encode proteins can nonetheless play a role in genome function and evolution will also be intriguing.

Conservation genomics is another significant goal of the Earth Biogenome Project. This field uses DNA sequencing to identify threatened species, which account for around 28% of the world's complex creatures, allowing us to track their genetic health and make management recommendations.

The challenge is no longer insurmountable. Sequencing big genomes took years and millions of dollars until recently. However, thanks to enormous technological advancements, huge genomes may now be sequenced and assembled for a few thousand dollars. In today's dollars, the Earth Biogenome Project will be less expensive than the human genome project, which cost around $3 billion in total.

Researchers used to have to chemically identify the order of the four bases on millions of microscopic DNA fragments, then paste the full sequence back together. They can now distinguish between different bases based on their physical qualities or by tying each of the four bases to a different dye. Long molecules of DNA linked in tiny tubes or squeezed through microscopic holes in a membrane can now be scanned using new sequencing methods.

What's the point of doing things in order? But, rather of wasting time and money, why not sequence just a few critical representative species? The Earth Biogenome Project's entire purpose is to use variance between species to compare them, as well as to capture amazing advances in outliers.

There's also the dread of being left behind. For example, if we sequence only 69,999 of the 70,000 worm species, we may overlook one that reveals the mysteries of how nematodes cause diseases in animals and plants.

The Earth Biogenome Project now has 44 affiliated institutes in 22 countries working on it. There are also 49 linked initiatives, including large-scale studies like the California Conservation Genomics Project, the Bird 10,000 Genomes Project, and the Darwin Tree of Life Project in the United Kingdom, as well as several programmes focused on specific groups like bats and butterflies.