Leveraging genomes to support conservation and bioeconomy policies in a megadiverse country

Abstract

The biodiversity crisis is a global phenomenon, and measures to monitor, stop, and revert the impacts on species' extinction risk are urgently needed. Megadiverse countries, especially in the Global South, are responsible for managing and protecting Earth's biodiversity. Various initiatives have started to sequence reference-level genomes or perform large-scale species detection and monitoring through environmental DNA. Here, we outline the Genomics of the Brazilian Biodiversity (GBB) consortium that is contributing to public policies on the conservation and management of Brazilian species. We describe our unique public-private governance and lessons in setting up a genomic consortium in a megadiverse country of continental scale. We explore the challenges while sharing knowledge for similar initiatives in the Global South. Ultimately, we aim to encourage Brazilian institutions and other megadiverse countries to invest and participate in large-scale genomic initiatives, demonstrating their commitment to preserving and monitoring their exceptional natural heritage while contributing to global biodiversity conservation.

Keywords: Global South; Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework; biodiversity; capacity development; decolonization; essential biodiversity variables; monitoring.

Graphical abstract

Figure 1

Schematic diagram of the governance and research tracks of the GBB The consortium’s governance is a private-public partnership between a non-profit research institute (Instituto Tecnológico Vale [ITV]) and the Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da Biodiversidade (ICMBio). The two main research tracks are divided into two hubs with unique goals and methodologies.

Figure 2

Representativeness of genetic and genomic data for Brazilian vertebrate species (A) Representativeness of genetic data for Brazilian vertebrate species. Each group has a total number of species (outer circle) divided by the different types of genetic or genomic data available (inner circles). Mitochondrial sequences refer to any segment of mitochondrial data available on GenBank, while mitogenomes are separated into their own category. (B) Representativeness of chromosome-level and draft nuclear genomes for vertebrates occurring in Brazil. If a single species had draft and chromosome-level genomes, both were included in our dataset. The species list was retrieved as per the System of Extinction Risk Assessment (“Sistema de Avaliação do Risco de Extinção da Biodiversidade”), hereafter SALVE, a database used to support the assessment of Brazilian fauna conservation status and organize information about the assessed species. SALVE’s list of assessed species for extinction risk considered a total of 9,777 vertebrates. The data used were downloaded from the NCBI GenBank public database on August 29^th, 2023.

Figure 3

Overview of the countries that have submitted to NCBI genomes of Brazilian species (A) Countries that deposited reference genome sequences from vertebrate species occurring in Brazil and evaluated by ICMBio through the SALVE assessment. (B) Number of reference genomes sequenced from species endemic to Brazil submitted to the NCBI database, categorized by the country of the submitting organization. Data for both graphs were obtained according to the submitter’s country. In cases where the submitter’s country was unclear, the associated BioProject description was used. The species list was retrieved from the SALVE database considering a total of 9,777 vertebrates. The data used were downloaded on August 29^th, 2023, from the NCBI GenBank public database.