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. 2022 Jan 25;119(4):e2115639118.
doi: 10.1073/pnas.2115639118.

Standards recommendations for the Earth BioGenome Project

Affiliations

Standards recommendations for the Earth BioGenome Project

Mara K N Lawniczak et al. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. .

Abstract

A global international initiative, such as the Earth BioGenome Project (EBP), requires both agreement and coordination on standards to ensure that the collective effort generates rapid progress toward its goals. To this end, the EBP initiated five technical standards committees comprising volunteer members from the global genomics scientific community: Sample Collection and Processing, Sequencing and Assembly, Annotation, Analysis, and IT and Informatics. The current versions of the resulting standards documents are available on the EBP website, with the recognition that opportunities, technologies, and challenges may improve or change in the future, requiring flexibility for the EBP to meet its goals. Here, we describe some highlights from the proposed standards, and areas where additional challenges will need to be met.

Keywords: Earth BioGenome Project; ethics; genome assembly; genomics.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interest statement: P.F. is a member of the scientific advisory boards of Fabric Genomics, Inc. and Eagle Genomics, Ltd.

Figures

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
An example of the documentation that should occur as a sample is being processed. The SPECIMEN_ID (the Natural History Museum, London [NHMUK] barcode under the fly) is photographed alongside the specimen and the barcoded tubes into which different samples of that specimen will be placed. The metadata tracking sheet would have three entries for this fly, where collection-related information would be identical, but tissue type and tissue size would vary (e.g., head, thorax, and abdomen, each in a separate tube). Image credit: M.K.N.L.
Fig. 2.
Fig. 2.
Recommended EBP INSDC assembly BioProject submission structure. Alternatives on this theme could include maternal assembly and paternal assembly at the DataBioProject levels, when complete genome assemblies are generated for both haplotypes of a diploid sexually reproducing species. “Your Project” represents a project sequencing multiple genomes, such as the VGP or DToL.
Fig. 3.
Fig. 3.
Recommended future EBP data service portal. Researchers would easily apply for the hardware resources that are shared by the EBP affiliated project networks.

References

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