Project launched to map genes of all complex life

Scientists launched a vast project yesterday to map the genetic code of all 1.5 million known species of complex life on earth, aiming to complete the work within a decade.

They described the Earth BioGenome Project (EBP) as "the next moonshot for biology" after the Human Genome Project, a 13-year $3 billion endeavour to map human DNA which was completed in 2003.

The EBP is expected to cost $4.7 billion and "will ultimately create a new foundation for biology to drive solutions for preserving biodiversity and sustaining human societies," said Harris Lewin, a professor at the University of California in the United States and chair of the EBP.

This plan will draw in major research efforts from across the world, including a US-led project aiming to sequence the genetic code of all 66,000 vertebrates, a Chinese project to sequence 10,000 plant genomes, and the Global Ant Genomes Alliance, which aims to sequence around 200 ant genomes.

In Britain, genome sequences for red and grey squirrels, the European robin, the Fen raft spider and the blackberry will be added to the vast database.

The volume of biological data that will be gathered is expected to be on the "exascale" - more than that accumulated by Twitter, YouTube or the whole of astronomy.

So far, fewer than 3,500 complex life species, or only about 0.2 percent, have had their genomes sequenced. Fewer than 100 of those have been done to "reference quality" level useful for researchers to access and learn from.