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

Area of Science:

• Genomics
• Bioinformatics
• Conservation Biology

Background:

• A comprehensive genomic database of Earth's eukaryotes is essential for scientific discovery but remains largely incomplete.
• The Earth BioGenome Project (EBP) aims to sequence all eukaryotic species, requiring robust infrastructure for genome production.
• The European Reference Genome Atlas (ERGA) was established as the EBP's European node to develop a decentralized genome production model.

Purpose of the Study:

• To implement and evaluate a novel, decentralized infrastructure for producing high-quality reference genomes.
• To test the effectiveness of this infrastructure in scaling genome production while ensuring equity and inclusion.
• To provide foundational insights for ERGA and inform other large-scale genomic resource projects.

Main Methods:

• Launched a Pilot Project involving the production of reference genomes for 98 eukaryotic species.
• Utilized a distributed infrastructure model across 33 European countries.
• Assessed the infrastructure's scalability, equity, and inclusivity in genome production.

Main Results:

• Successfully established and tested the first distributed reference genome production infrastructure.
• Demonstrated the model's effectiveness in scaling high-quality genome production.
• Gathered crucial outcomes and lessons learned regarding equitable and inclusive practices.

Conclusions:

• The ERGA Pilot Project provides a solid foundation for future ERGA operations.
• The project offers key learnings for transnational and national genomic resource initiatives, including the EBP.
• A decentralized, equitable, and inclusive approach is effective for large-scale reference genome production.