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Research Project: Managing Honey Bees Against Disease and Colony Stress

Location: Bee Research Laboratory

Title: Why sequence all eukaryotes?

Author
item BLAXTER, MARK - Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute
item ARCHIBALD, JOHN - Dalhousie University
item Childers, Anna
item CODDINGTON, JONATHAN - Smithsonian Institute
item CRANDALL, KEITH - George Washington University Medical Center
item DIPALMA, FEDERICA - University Of East Anglia
item DURBIN, RICHARD - Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute
item EDWARDS, SCOTT - Harvard University
item GRAVES, JENNIFER - University Of Canberra
item Hackett, Kevin
item HALL, NEIL - Earlham Institute
item JARVIS, ERICH - Rockefeller University
item JOHNSON, REBECCA - Smithsonian Institute
item KARLSSON, ELINOR - Broad Institute Of Mit/harvard
item KRESS, JOHN - Smithsonian Institute
item KURAKU, SHIGEHIRO - Riken Institute
item LAWNICZAK, MARA - Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute
item LINDBLAD-TOH, KERSTIN - Broad Institute Of Mit/harvard
item LOPEZ, JOSE - Nova Southeastern University
item MORAN, NANCY - University Of Texas At Austin
item ROBINSON, GENE - University Of Illinois
item RYDER, OLIVER - University Of California, San Diego
item SHAPIRO, BETH - University Of California Santa Cruz
item SOLTIS, PAMELA - University Of Florida
item WARNOW, TANDY - University Of Illinois
item ZHANG, GUOJIE - University Of Copenhagen
item LEWIN, HARRIS - University Of California, Davis

Submitted to: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS)
Publication Type: Other
Publication Acceptance Date: 11/1/2021
Publication Date: 1/18/2022
Citation: Blaxter, M.L., Archibald, J.M., Childers, A.K., Coddington, J.A., Crandall, K.A., Dipalma, F., Durbin, R., Edwards, S.V., Graves, J.A., Hackett, K.J., Hall, N., Jarvis, E.D., Johnson, R.N., Karlsson, E.K., Kress, J.W., Kuraku, S., Lawniczak, M.K., Lindblad-Toh, K., Lopez, J., Moran, N.A., Robinson, G.E., Ryder, O.A., Shapiro, B., Soltis, P.S., Warnow, T., Zhang, G., Lewin, H.A. 2022. Why sequence all eukaryotes?. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences(PNAS). 119:(4) e2115636118. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2115636118.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2115636118

Interpretive Summary: Life on Earth has evolved from initial simplicity to the astounding complexity we experience today. Bacteria and archaea have largely excelled in metabolic diversification, but eukaryotes additionally display abundant morphological innovation. How have these innovations come about and what constraints are there on the origins of novelty and the continuing maintenance of biodiversity on Earth? The history of life and the code for the working parts of cells and systems are written in the genome. The Earth BioGenome Project has proposed that the genomes of all extant, named eukaryotes—about 2 million species—should be sequenced to high quality to produce a digital library of life on Earth, beginning with strategic phylogenetic, ecological, and high-impact priorities. Here we discuss why we should sequence all eukaryotic species, not just a representative few scattered across the many branches of the tree of life. We suggest that many questions of evolutionary and ecological significance will only be addressable when whole-genome data representing divergences at all of the branchings in the tree of life or all species in natural ecosystems are available. We envisage that a genomic tree of life will foster understanding of the ongoing processes of speciation, adaptation, and organismal dependencies within entire ecosystems. These explorations will resolve long-standing problems in phylogenetics, evolution, ecology, conservation, agriculture, bioindustry, and medicine.

Technical Abstract: Life on Earth has evolved from initial simplicity to the astounding complexity we experience today. Bacteria and archaea have largely excelled in metabolic diversification, but eukaryotes additionally display abundant morphological innovation. How have these innovations come about and what constraints are there on the origins of novelty and the continuing maintenance of biodiversity on Earth? The history of life and the code for the working parts of cells and systems are written in the genome. The Earth BioGenome Project has proposed that the genomes of all extant, named eukaryotes—about 2 million species—should be sequenced to high quality to produce a digital library of life on Earth, beginning with strategic phylogenetic, ecological, and high-impact priorities. Here we discuss why we should sequence all eukaryotic species, not just a representative few scattered across the many branches of the tree of life. We suggest that many questions of evolutionary and ecological significance will only be addressable when whole-genome data representing divergences at all of the branchings in the tree of life or all species in natural ecosystems are available. We envisage that a genomic tree of life will foster understanding of the ongoing processes of speciation, adaptation, and organismal dependencies within entire ecosystems. These explorations will resolve long-standing problems in phylogenetics, evolution, ecology, conservation, agriculture, bioindustry, and medicine.