The European Reference Genome Atlas: piloting a decentralised approach to equitable biodiversity genomics.

Mc Cartney AM, Formenti G, Mouton A, De Panis D, Marins LS, Leitão HG, Diedericks G, Kirangwa J, Morselli M, Salces-Ortiz J, Escudero N, Iannucci A, Natali C, Svardal H, Fernández R, De Pooter T, Joris G, Strazisar M, Wood JMD, Herron KE, Seehausen O, Watts PC, Shaw F, Davey RP, Minotto A, Fernández JM, Böhne A, Alegria C, Alioto T, Alves PC, Amorim IR, Aury JM, Backstrom N, Baldrian P, Baltrunaite L, Barta E, BedHom B, Belser C, Bergsten J, Bertrand L, Bilandija H, Binzer-Panchal M, Bista I, Blaxter M, Borges PAV, Dias GB, Bosse M, Brown T, Bruggmann R, Buena-Atienza E, Burgin J, Buzan E, Cariani A, Casadei N, Chiara M, Chozas S, Čiampor F, Crottini A, Cruaud C, Cruz F, Dalen L, De Biase A, Del Campo J, Delic T, Dennis AB, Derks MFL, Diroma MA, Djan M, Duprat S, Eleftheriadi K, Feulner PGD, Flot JF, Forni G, Fosso B, Fournier P, Fournier-Chambrillon C, Gabaldon T, Garg S, Gissi C, Giupponi L, Gomez-Garrido J, González J, Grilo ML, Grüning B, Guerin T, Guiglielmoni N, Gut M, Haesler MP, Hahn C, Halpern B, Harrison PW, Heintz J, Hindrikson M, Höglund J, Howe K, Hughes GM, Istace B, Cock MJ, Janžekovič F, Jonsson ZO, Joye-Dind S, Koskimäki JJ, Krystufek B, Kubacka J, Kuhl H, Kusza S, Labadie K, Lähteenaro M, Lantz H, Lavrinienko A, Leclère L, Lopes RJ, Madsen O, Magdelenat G, Magoga G, Manousaki T, Mappes T, Marques JP, Redondo GIM, Maumus F, McCarthy SA, Megens HJ, Melo-Ferreira J, Mendes SL, Montagna M, Moreno J, Mosbech MB, Moura M, Musilova Z, Myers E, Nash WJ, Nater A, Nicholson P, Niell M, Nijland R, Noel B, Noren K, Oliveira PH, Olsen RA, Ometto L, Oomen RA, Ossowski S, Palinauskas V, Palsson S, Panibe JP, Pauperio J, Pavlek M, Payen E, Pawlowska J, Pellicer J, Pesole G, Pimenta J, Pippel M, Pirttilä AM, Poulakakis N, Rajan J, M C Rego R, Resendes R, Resl P, Riesgo A, Rodin-Morch P, Soares AER, Fernandes CR, Romeiras MM, Roxo G, Rüber L, Ruiz-Lopez MJ, Saarma U, da Silva LP, Sim-Sim M, Soler L, Sousa VC, Santos CS, Spada A, Stefanovic M, Steger V, Stiller J, Stöck M, Struck TH, Sudasinghe H, Tapanainen R, Tellgren-Roth C, Trindade H, Tukalenko Y, Urso I, Vacherie B, Van Belleghem SM, Van Oers K, Vargas-Chavez C, Velickovic N, Vella N, Vella A, Vernesi C, Vicente S, Villa S, Pettersson OV, Volckaert FAM, Voros J, Wincker P, Winkler S, Ciofi C, Waterhouse RM, Mazzoni CJ

NPJ Biodivers 3 (1) 28 [2024-09-17; online 2024-09-17]

A genomic database of all Earth's eukaryotic species could contribute to many scientific discoveries; however, only a tiny fraction of species have genomic information available. In 2018, scientists across the world united under the Earth BioGenome Project (EBP), aiming to produce a database of high-quality reference genomes containing all ~1.5 million recognized eukaryotic species. As the European node of the EBP, the European Reference Genome Atlas (ERGA) sought to implement a new decentralised, equitable and inclusive model for producing reference genomes. For this, ERGA launched a Pilot Project establishing the first distributed reference genome production infrastructure and testing it on 98 eukaryotic species from 33 European countries. Here we outline the infrastructure and explore its effectiveness for scaling high-quality reference genome production, whilst considering equity and inclusion. The outcomes and lessons learned provide a solid foundation for ERGA while offering key learnings to other transnational, national genomic resource projects and the EBP.

Bioinformatics Support and Infrastructure [Collaborative]

Bioinformatics Support, Infrastructure and Training [Collaborative]

PubMed 39289538

DOI 10.1038/s44185-024-00054-6

Crossref 10.1038/s44185-024-00054-6

pmc: PMC11408602
pii: 10.1038/s44185-024-00054-6