Earth Biogenome Project

Why is it in news?
  • A mission to sequence the genome of every known animal, plant, fungus and protozoan - a group of single-celled organisms - is underway.
  • The Earth BioGenome Project (EBP) has been described as a "moonshot for biology".
Earth Biogenome Project
Aim-

  1. To sequence, catalog and characterize the genomes of all of Earth’s eukaryotic biodiversity over a period of ten years. 
  2. A key aim is to use the information in efforts to conserve threatened species.
  3. Collecting clues about how species adapt to environmental change could be hidden in their DNA code.
  4. To create an entirely new inventory of life on Planet Earth by reading the genetic code of every organism belonging to a vast group known as eukaryotes - essentially, species made up of multiple cells with their DNA bound inside a nucleus.
  • Vision- Create a new foundation for biology to drive solutions for preserving biodiversity and sustaining human societies.
  • Why Sequence Life?
  • Powerful advances in genome sequencing technology, informatics, automation, and artificial intelligence will help to achieve it.
  • It propelled humankind to the threshold of a new beginning in understanding, utilizing, and conserving biodiversity.
  • For the first time in history, it is possible to-
  1. Efficiently sequence the genomes of all known species, and
  2. To use genomics to help discover the remaining 80 to 90 percent of species those are currently hidden from science.
Main ambitions of the project are threefold:

  1. Fundamental science: The genomes will be an inventory of knowledge about the biology of life on the planet.
  2. Conservation: To protect endangered species from threats like climate change, scientists want to understand the genetic code that underlies their adaptations to their environment.
  3. Human welfare: Pinpointing the code for "useful traits" could reveal, for example, medicinal properties embedded in an organism's DNA or ways to protect vital crop species from drought and disease.
Source
BBC News, earthbiogenome.org




Posted by Jawwad Kazi on 4th Nov 2018
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