Harris Lewin | Biology’s moonshot: DNA sequencing to conserve biodiversity & sustain societies

How will a landmark DNA sequencing project help secure the future of life - both ours and every other species'?
In his talk at the 2021 Frontiers Forum Speaker Series, Professor Harris Lewin explains how powerful advances in DNA sequencing are helping efforts to preserve biodiversity and sustain human societies. From identifying priority populations for conservation, to understanding which genes help species adapt to climate change, to monitoring disease outbreaks, to breeding more resilient crops and livestock, the genomics revolution is poised to benefit all life on Earth.
Harris co-founded the Earth BioGenome Project - a moonshot effort to sequence, catalog and characterize the DNA of our planet’s 1.8 million known plants, animals, fungi and protists.
Harris’ talk took place on March 28 2021, and was attended by over 2,300 international representatives from science, policy and business.
The Frontiers Forum showcases science-led solutions for healthy lives on a healthy planet. For upcoming talks, and to watch previous sessions, see forum.frontier...

[@Vitsen1300]

This is an inspiring project, let's do it!

[@RalfStephan]

DNA sequences do not tell all the functions. You need lab workers characterizing new enzymes, transporters, translation factors. DNA is not enough.

[@michaelbonkowski5363]

The figure of sequenced Protists (6%) is utterly wrong! The estimate is probably based on "Protozoa" detected with "universal" eukaryotic primers. BUT these primers do NOT DETECT the vast majority of Protists!! Their sequences are soooo different from the multicellular Eukaryotes, that we urgently need whole-genome sequences that allow us to design primers to capture their diversity in environmental samples.

[@michaelbonkowski5363]

...just imagine that each multicellular species (plant, animal, fungal, brown algae) has at least one adapted protist parasite species (in fact many more)!! Not to speak of all the free-living taxa.

[@jessiemonajan5616]

Great❤️❤️❤️

[@arturofajardo7205]

Buen vídeo