Mapping our existence

London – Scientists launched a vast project this week to map the genetic code of all 1.5 million known species of complex life on earth, aiming to complete the work within a decade.

They described the Earth BioGenome Project (EBP) as “the next moonshot for biology” after the Human Genome Project, a 13year, $3 billion (about R43 billion) endeavour to map human DNA which was completed in 2003.

The EBP is expected to cost $4.7 billion and “will ultimately create a new foundation for biology to drive solutions for preserving biodiversity and sustaining human societies”, said Harris Lewin, a professor at the University of California in the United States and chair of the EBP.

“Having the road map will be a tremendous resource for new discoveries, understanding the rules of life, how evolution works, new approaches for the conservation of rare and endangered species and new resources for researchers in agricultural and medical fields,” he said. –