Africa: order of 100,000 species to conserve biodiversity

Build a key resource in continental genomics to help breeders and conservationists.

Sleepy fish (Bostrychus africanus) is a staple food in West Africa. Their collections are an important source of income for hundreds of communities in the Atlantic Gulf of Guinea. However, little is known about the genetics of this fish -- information critical to maintaining its genetic diversity and increasing its resilience in the face of climate change and other stresses.

This situation is known throughout Africa. Think of orphan crops that play an important role in regional food security, even though they are not usually traded internationally. More than 50% of them have not sequenced their genomes - from the serrated gourd (Telfaria occidentalis) to the marama bean (Tylosema esculentum). The same is true for the more than 95% of the species known to be endangered on the continent (see "African genomes").

In addition, we estimate that approximately 70% of the approximately 35 projects focused on exploring, conserving or enhancing biodiversity in Africa over the past 15 years were undertaken outside the continent. In fact, among plant genomes that have been sequenced worldwide in the last 20 years, nearly all African species have been sequenced elsewhere, particularly in the United States, China, and Europe1. This offshore release slows down much needed genomics and bioinformatics expertise and resources in Africa (see "Africa Beyond Global Genomics Efforts").

The African Biogenome Project (AfricaBP) is an attempt to sequence the genomes of 105,000 endemic species: plants, animals, fungi, protists and other eukaryotes. Currently 109 African scientists (87 of whom work in Africa) and 22 African organizations are involved.

This collection of reference genomes - built in Africa, for Africa - will help breeders and breeders come up with a sustainable and sustainable food system. This will inform the conservation of biodiversity across the continent. And it will strengthen Africa's ability to meet the post-2020 goals of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) Global Framework for Biodiversity. Those goals, one of which is to preserve at least 90% of the genetic diversity of all known species by 2030, are expected to be agreed at a meeting in Kunming, China, next month.