Genomic Encyclopedia of Bacteria and Archaea: Sequencing a Myriad of Type Strains

Abstract

Microbes hold the key to life. They hold the secrets to our past (as the descendants of the earliest forms of life) and the prospects for our future (as we mine their genes for solutions to some of the planet's most pressing problems, from global warming to antibiotic resistance). However, the piecemeal approach that has defined efforts to study microbial genetic diversity for over 20 years and in over 30,000 genome projects risks squandering that promise. These efforts have covered less than 20% of the diversity of the cultured archaeal and bacterial species, which represent just 15% of the overall known prokaryotic diversity. Here we call for the funding of a systematic effort to produce a comprehensive genomic catalog of all cultured Bacteria and Archaea by sequencing, where available, the type strain of each species with a validly published name (currently∼11,000). This effort will provide an unprecedented level of coverage of our planet's genetic diversity, allow for the large-scale discovery of novel genes and functions, and lead to an improved understanding of microbial evolution and function in the environment.

Keywords

Affiliated Institutions

• University of Gothenburg SE
• University of Wisconsin–Madison US
• National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research US
• Los Alamos National Laboratory US
• Département Génétique Animale FR
• Joint BioEnergy Institute US
• King Abdulaziz University SA
• UCLouvain BE
• Genopole (France) FR
• Mediterranean Institute for Advanced Studies ES
• NamesforLife (United States) US
• University of Toronto CA
• King Abdullah University of Science and Technology SA
• Leibniz Institute DSMZ – German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures DE
• University of California, Davis US
• Constructor University DE
• Baylor Genetics US
• Howard Hughes Medical Institute US
• University of Copenhagen DK
• Michigan State University US
• Centre for Research and Technology Hellas GR
• The University of Queensland AU
• Chinese Academy of Sciences CN
• Natural Environment Research Council GB
• Genoscope FR
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology US
• Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology DE
• Genetic Improvement and Adaptation of Mediterranean and Tropical Plants FR
• Jackson Laboratory US
• Michigan United US
• American Type Culture Collection US
• CAB International GB
• Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique et aux Énergies Alternatives FR
• Argonne National Laboratory US
• Seoul National University KR
• Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory US
• Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology KR
• National Transportation Research Center US
• University of Colorado Boulder US
• Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center US
• Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China CN
• Baylor College of Medicine US
• Saint Petersburg Academic University RU
• University of Georgia US
• University of Vienna AT
• Ghent University BE
• University of Maryland, College Park US
• University of Maryland, Baltimore US
• J. Craig Venter Institute US
• Oak Ridge National Laboratory US
• State Key Laboratory of Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases
• Zhejiang University CN
• Marine Biological Laboratory US
• Joint Genome Institute US
• National Institute of Technology and Evaluation JP
• St Petersburg University RU
• Wellcome Sanger Institute GB
• Institute of Microbiology CN
• Johns Hopkins University US
• RIKEN BioResource Research Center JP

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