In what will doubtless be the largest genomic sequencing endeavour of all time , an international syndicate of researchers is organizing a massive effort to collect and sequence the DNA of Earth ’s 1.5 million known eucaryote , thedomain of organismsthat includes brute , works , and fungus .
It is a historically challenging undertaking , consanguine to theHuman Genome Project , the 13 - year effort that set about in 1990 to key out and represent all of the genes that make up human DNA . In sequencing more than a million of Earth ’s specie , investigator hope that the labor , nickname theEarth BioGenome Project , can assist to save endangered specie around the world .
The plans were announced to begin with this yearat the World Economic Forum , but this workweek the plan is detailed in theProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences .
“ increase our reason of Earth ’s biodiversity and responsibly stewarding its resource are among the most important scientific and societal challenges of the new millennium , ” the investigator wrote . “ These challenge require fundamental young knowledge of the organization , evolution , function , and interactions among millions of the planet ’s organisms . ”
As of last fall , the sequenced genome of only 2,534 unique eukaryotic metal money appeared in the National Center for Biotechnology Information . There are 1.5 million known species of eukaryote on Earth . That mean that so far , we ’ve sequence less than 0.2 pct of our major planet ’s known complex life . To boot , it is estimated that there are somewhere between 10 and 15 million more unknown unequalled eukaryotes on Earth .
Genomic sequence engineering have ameliorate immensely since the days of the Human Genome projection . According to the National Human Genome Research Institute , whichtracks the cost of sequencing , in 2001 the cost of sequence a whole human genome was somewhere around $ 100,000 . Today it ’s about $ 1,000 .
Sequencing the first human genome be about $ 2.7 billion . Now , sequence the DNA of a newfangled species for the first time cost an average of about $ 30,000 .
Researchers estimate that the Earth BioGenome Project will take 10 years and cost $ 4.7 billion to sequence all 1.5 million organism . The primal goal of the project is to understand the evolution and organisation of life on our plant by sequence all have it away complex metal money . It also hope to unearth some of those billion of obscure species of eukaryotes , most of which are unmarried - cubicle organisms , insect , and small ocean fauna .
The estimate 1 billion gigabytes of data that the project acquire will be made freely available . It will inform many of the major issues facing our planet , including characterizing the encroachment of climate change on biodiversity . Goalsof the project also include using the information gathered to develop new therapies for disease , new biofuels , and new biomaterials that could benefit humans .
Currently , scientists forecast that Earth is on running to mislay more than one-half of all species by the close of the century . So permit ’s hope that obscure in all those G of DNA , there are some hints on how to save them .
conservationGeneticsScience
Daily Newsletter
Get the best tech , skill , and culture newsworthiness in your inbox day by day .
News from the time to come , delivered to your present .
Please select your hope newssheet and accede your email to upgrade your inbox .
You May Also Like
