What lies underneath: conserving the oceans' genetic resources

Abstract

The marine realm represents 70% of the surface of the biosphere and contains a rich variety of organisms, including more than 34 of the 36 living phyla, some of which are only found in the oceans. The number of marine species used by humans is growing at unprecedented rates, including the rapid domestication of marine species for aquaculture and the discovery of natural products and genes of medical and biotechnological interest in marine biota. The rapid growth in the human appropriation of marine genetic resources (MGRs), with over 18,000 natural products and 4,900 patents associated with genes of marine organisms, with the latter growing at 12% per year, demonstrates that the use of MGRs is no longer a vision but a growing source of biotechnological and business opportunities. The diversification of the use of marine living resources by humans calls for an urgent revision of the goals and policies of marine protected areas, to include the protection of MGRs and address emerging issues like biopiracy or benefit sharing. Specific challenges are the protection of these valuable resources in international waters, where no universally accepted legal framework exists to protect and regulate the exploitation of MGRs, and the unresolved issues on patenting components of marine life. Implementing steps toward the protection of MGRs is essential to ensure their sustainable use and to support the flow of future findings of medical and biotechnological interest.

Fig. 1.

(A) Time course of the accumulated number of marine species described (black line), those domesticated for food (red line), those having sequences associated with patents in GenBank (blue line), and the total number of species reported as sources of natural products in the marine realm by 2006 (green column). Note the broken scale along the y axis. (B) Accumulated number of distinct natural products (green line) and sequences associated with patents reported in GenBank (blue line) over time.

Fig. 2.

Phylogenetic affiliation of marine species as sources of DNA sequences in patents, natural products, and domesticated for food. Bar lengths correspond to the percentage of species in each taxonomic group relative to the total number of species for that particular use (natural products, sequences, or domesticated). The numbers show the actual number of species.

Fig. 3.

Synthesis of the uses proposed in the claims or description of 460 patents deposited at the International Patent Office and associated with genes isolated in marine organisms. Because each patent claim can belong to several categories, the sum is larger than 100%.