25 UK species’ genomes sequenced for first time

8 October, Hinxton - The genomes of 25 UK species have been read by scientists as part of a collaboration between the Wellcome Sanger Institute, EMBL’s European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI) and many other collaborators. The 25 completed genome sequences will lead to future studies to understand the biodiversity of the UK and aid the conservation and understanding of native species.

These newly-sequenced genomes will enable research into why some brown trout migrate to the open ocean and others do not, or investigations into the magneto receptors in robins’ eyes that allow them to ‘see’ the magnetic fields of the Earth.

Since the landmark completion of the human genome, many more important reference genomes have already been sequenced – from the mouse and zebrafish genomes to the pig, gorilla, mosquito and many others.

Native species sequenced

Now, 25 UK species have been sequenced for the first time by the Sanger Institute and its partners. Scientists at EMBL-EBI will now begin annotation of the genomes before adding them to the Ensembl database, where they will be freely available to researchers all over the world. The annotated genomes will then give researchers the opportunity to analyse gene evolution and carry out comparative analysis between species.

“This project will give us unprecedented insights into the genomes of these 25 iconic UK species and we can start to ask questions that simply weren’t possible before, as the data weren’t available,” explains Fergal Martin, Project Leader for Ensembl Genebuild at EMBL-EBI. “With more data we can begin to resolve the fine details of the relationships between species across the tree of life, and spot new connections that we didn’t have to power to pick up before. The most exciting things are the things we don’t even know about yet.”

The first human genome took 13 years and billions of dollars to complete. With the great advances in technology and falling costs of sequencing, scientists have been able to newly sequence 25 species’ genomes in less than one year and at a fraction of the cost.

What next?

Dan Mead, co-ordinator of Sanger’s 25 Genomes Project, says: “We are already discovering the surprising secrets these species hold in their genomes. We’ve found that King scallops are more genetically diverse than we are, and the Roesel’s bush cricket’s genome is four times the size of the human genome. Similar to when the Human Genome Project first began, we don’t know where these findings could take us.”

This project is a small contribution to a much larger undertaking, where scientists from around the world are coming together to form a plan to sequence all life on Earth.