Title

Why sequence all eukaryotes?

Authors

Mark Blaxter, Wellcome Sanger Institute
John M. Archibald, Dalhousie University
Anna K. Childers, US Department of Agriculture
Jonathan A. Coddington, Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History
Keith A. Crandall, George Washington University
Federica Di Palma, University of East Anglia
Richard Durbin, University of Cambridge
Scott V. Edwards, Harvard University
Jennifer A.M. Graves, La Trobe University
Kevin J. Hackett, US Department of Agriculture
Neil Hall, Earlham Institute
Erich D. Jarvis, The Rockefeller University
Rebecca N. Johnson, Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History
Elinor K. Karlsson, University of Massachusetts
W. John Kress, Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History
Shigehiro Kuraku, National Institute of Genetics
Mara K. N. Lawniczak, Wellcome Sanger Institute
Kerstin Lindblad-Toh, Uppsala University
Jose V. Lopez, Nova Southeastern UniversityFollow
Nancy A. Moran, University of Texas at Austin
Gene E. Robinson, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Oliver A. Ryder, University of California - San Diego
Beth Shapiro, University of California - Santa Cruz
Pamela S. Soltis, University of Florida
Tandy Warnow, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Guojie Zhang, University of Copenhagen
Harris A. Lewin, University of California - Davis

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-18-2022

Publication Title

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Keywords

Genome, Diversity, Ecology, Evolution, Conservation

ISSN

0027-8424

Volume

119

Issue/No.

4

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.

Comments

This research was funded in whole, or in part, by Wellcome Trust Grants 206194 and 218328.

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

NSUWorks Citation

Blaxter, Mark; John M. Archibald; Anna K. Childers; Jonathan A. Coddington; Keith A. Crandall; Federica Di Palma; Richard Durbin; Scott V. Edwards; Jennifer A.M. Graves; Kevin J. Hackett; Neil Hall; Erich D. Jarvis; Rebecca N. Johnson; Elinor K. Karlsson; W. John Kress; Shigehiro Kuraku; Mara K. N. Lawniczak; Kerstin Lindblad-Toh; Jose V. Lopez; Nancy A. Moran; Gene E. Robinson; Oliver A. Ryder; Beth Shapiro; Pamela S. Soltis; Tandy Warnow; Guojie Zhang; and Harris A. Lewin. 2022. "Why sequence all eukaryotes?." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 119, (4). doi:10.1073/pnas.2115636118.

ORCID ID

0000-0002-1637-4125

ResearcherID

F-8809-2011

DOI

10.1073/pnas.2115636118