‘Moonshot for Biology’ Aims to Sequence a Genome of Every Type of Plant and Animal on Earth

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4.2 • 727 Ratings

🗓️ 14 August 2023

⏱️ 56 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

A group of scientists is racing to sequence genes from every plant, animal, and fungus on Earth for a global database of DNA. The organizers of the global Earth BioGenome Project call it a ‘moonshot for biology’ which would provide a treasure trove of information on evolutionary biology, the development of medicines, the conservation of species and more. We talk with scientists about their race against time to collect genes while tens of thousands of species are threatened with extinction and what they hope will come of it. Guests: Harris Lewin, chair, the Earth BioGenome Project Executive Committee; distinguished professor Emeritus of Evolution and Ecology, the University of California, Davis Brad Shaffer, director, UCLA La Kretz Center for California Conservation Science; distinguished professor, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Sadye Paez, chair of the justice, equity, diversity and inclusion committee, the Earth BioGenome Project; collaborator on the Vertebrae Genome Project, the The Rockefeller University Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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0:38.3	From KQED in San Francisco, I'm Alexis Madrigal.
0:51.3	There is just so much life on earth. All the bats, all the rats,
0:56.0	all the flowering plants, all the trees, all the fungi lurking in the underground.
1:01.0	Taken together, this is the real inheritance of the residents of this planet, a history of biological
1:07.0	innovation preserved in these genomes. As we lose evermore biodiversity, the Earth Biogenome Project is attempting to sequence
1:15.2	the genes of 1.8 million species.
1:19.6	It's wildly ambitious and only recently even thinkable given the advances in biotechnology.
1:25.8	We talk about the project, California's contribution, and the ethical
1:28.8	considerations at play. That's all coming up next right after this news.
1:38.0	Welcome to Forum. I'm Alexis Madrigal. If you want to sequence the genomes of every known
	...

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