• Saving species through genomics in megad

    From ScienceDaily@1:317/3 to All on Tue Jan 18 21:30:40 2022
    Saving species through genomics in megadiverse Colombia

    Date:
    January 18, 2022
    Source:
    University of East Anglia
    Summary:
    Colombia stands to benefit ecologically, economically and socially
    through membership in the Earth Biogenome Project.



    FULL STORY ==========================================================================
    The world's second-most megadiverse country stands to benefit
    ecologically, economically and socially through membership in the Earth Biogenome Project, according to research from the University of East
    Anglia (UEA).


    ==========================================================================
    In 2019, Colombia joined the Earth Biogenome Project (EBP), which aims
    to sequence the genomes of all eukaryotic (plant, animal and fungi)
    life on Earth.

    The collaboration between governments, academia and the private sector
    will integrate research with sustainable, environment-focused strategies
    to develop Colombia's post-conflict bioeconomy, while conserving its
    rich biological and cultural diversity.

    A combination of factors has preserved Colombia's biodiversity, with
    much of it still inaccessible, understudied and intact. Since the 2016
    Peace Agreement, however, the country has begun opening up to economic activities such as timber, mining and agriculture -- in particular,
    cattle farming. These activities threaten Colombia's unique ecosystems
    and could accelerate biodiversity loss.

    An international team of researchers say joining the EBP and launching a National Bioeconomy Strategy (NBS) will have a range of positive outcomes
    for Colombia, from preserving the country's vast biological wealth,
    working to alleviate inequality and poverty -- and even discovering
    species new to science that could benefit human health.

    Dr Joseph Huddart, a Senior Research Associate in UEA's School of
    Biological Sciences, was lead author on the study, 'EBP-Colombia and
    the bioeconomy: Genomics in the service of biodiversity conservation and sustainable development'. The paper is published today in the Proceedings
    of the National Academy of Sciences.

    Dr Huddart said: "We are at the beginning of an exciting new era of
    molecular research, where technological advances mean we can potentially sequence species DNA in the field cost-effectively and in real-time.



    ========================================================================== "Through equitable, capacity-building partnerships with local
    institutions, this is set to both disrupt and democratise the outdated
    colonial model of scientific exploration where biological material
    is exported out of megadiverse countries like Colombia to richer
    countries for analysis." Colombia's NBS is a long-term, post-conflict, bioeconomic development plan focused on evaluating, conserving, managing
    and sustainably using its valuable biological resources.

    Prof Federica Di Palma, a Professorial Fellow in Biodiversity in UEA's
    School of Biological Sciences and an Honorary Professor in the Norwich
    Medical School, leads the EBP-Colombia consortium with Prof Silvia
    Restrepo at the University of Los Andes, Colombia.

    Prof Di Palma said: "Colombia has enormous and internationally important untapped genomic wealth.

    "By establishing a collaborative community to develop Colombia's
    molecular research capacity and creating a bioeconomy, we can work
    toward sustainable management and conservation." The goal of the EBP
    is to provide a complete DNA sequence catalogue of all 1.8 million named species of plants, animals and fungi as well as single-celled eukaryotes,
    so Colombia is well-placed to make exceptional contributions, such as
    further understanding its many cacao species and threatened animals
    including the Andean bear.



    ==========================================================================
    The sequencing could therefore provide the discovery of novel molecules,
    fibres and proteins that could have health and industrial applications,
    and also provide food and nutritional security.

    EBP-Colombia has established a collaborative Colombian community of stakeholders developing molecular research capacity, driving the political
    will for the project while also training future generations of Colombian genomicists, conservationists, technicians and other scientists.

    Prof Di Palma hopes the strategies will ultimately help to alleviate
    poverty, inequality and conflict, and sustain peace. The plans promote innovative approaches to agriculture, tourism, recycling, medicine and
    more, while addressing societal, environmental and economic challenges.

    Prof Di Palma said: "The NBS and the EBP can also serve as alternative
    models for economic development that similarly placed countries can
    adopt." As of December 2021, the EBP includes 5,000 scientists and
    technical staff at 44 member institutions in 22 countries on every
    continent except Antarctica.

    There are 49 affiliated projects covering most of the major taxonomic
    groups of eukaryotes, which have access to tens of thousands of
    high-quality samples from museum collections and field biologists.

    Earth is forecast to lose 50 per cent of its biodiversity by the end
    of this century without action to curb climate change and protect
    the health of global ecosystems. Creating a digital library of DNA
    sequences for all known eukaryotic life can help generate effective
    tools for preventing biodiversity loss and pathogen spread, monitoring
    and protecting ecosystems, and enhancing ecosystem services.

    special promotion Explore the latest scientific research on sleep and
    dreams in this free online course from New Scientist -- Sign_up_now_>>> academy.newscientist.com/courses/science-of-sleep-and-dreams ========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by University_of_East_Anglia. Note:
    Content may be edited for style and length.


    ========================================================================== Journal Reference:
    1. Joseph E. A. Huddart, Andrew J. Crawford, Arturo L. Luna-Tapia,
    Silvia
    Restrepo, Federica Di Palma. EBP-Colombia and the bioeconomy:
    Genomics in the service of biodiversity conservation and sustainable
    development.

    Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2022; 119 (4):
    e2115641119 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2115641119 ==========================================================================

    Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/01/220118104117.htm

    --- up 6 weeks, 3 days, 7 hours, 13 minutes
    * Origin: -=> Castle Rock BBS <=- Now Husky HPT Powered! (1:317/3)