Darwin Tree of Life Project
About the Darwin Tree of Life Project
The Earth is experiencing the “sixth great extinction”, an event that threatens the biodiversity upon which human society depends. As part of global initiatives to use genomics to reveal and understand biodiversity, and thus contribute to conservation and mitigation of the effects of catastrophic change, the Sanger Institute has initiated the Tree of Life programme. The Darwin Tree of Life project is one of the programme’s key activities.
The Tree of Life programme is collaborating with the Natural History Museum London, Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh, The Marine Biological Association, The Earlham Institute, The University of Oxford and its Wytham Woods field station, The University of Edinburgh, The University of Cambridge, EMBL-EBI and others to sequence to high quality the genomes of all eukaryotic species in Britain and Ireland.
Together we will collect and identify specimens, extract and sequence DNA and RNA, and assemble and annotate the genomes of the approximately 70,000 species with which we share these islands. We will make the data openly available for re-use in biological research, conservation, biotechnology and beyond.
The project is currently funded through the Sanger Institute core programme budget, and a major Wellcome Trust Discretionary Award to the DToL Partnership. The 30-month Phase I of Darwin project began in November 2019, and aims to sequence the first 2000 species, representing half of all the families of organisms present in these islands.
Suggest a species to be sequenced by the Darwin Tree of Life Project
https://tinyurl.com/dtol-suggest
The Darwin Tree of Life project will eventually sequence all described eukaryotic species in Britain and Ireland, but we’d like community input into which of these should be done first. A list of species for which sequencing is already underway can be explored at https://tolqc.cog.sanger.ac.uk/index.html. The form at https://tinyurl.com/dtol-suggest allows you to propose your priorities!
Thank you for participating.
Contact
If you need help or have any queries, please contact us using the details below.
Sanger people
Professor Mark Blaxter
Programme Lead for Tree of Life Programme and Senior Group Leader
Dr Mara Lawniczak
Group Leader
Dr Richard Durbin
Associate Faculty
Dr Kerstin Howe
Head of Production Genomics
Dr Matt Berriman
Senior Group Leader
Dr Shane A. McCarthy
Senior Scientific Manager
External partners and funders
External
BBSRC
External
Connecting Science
External
Earlham Institute
External
The Natural History Museum, London
External
Royal Botanic Gardens, Edinburgh
External
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
External
University of Cambridge
External
University of Edinburgh
External
University of Oxford
External
Wellcome
Associated research
Related groups
Affiliated Sites
External
Darwin Tree of Life Website
Connect with us on Twitter
Turns out we have quite a few lentils, but also some kidney beans #DNAextraction #site100 https://twitter.com/marakat/status/1392860113661272074
the frequent use of 'lentil' in @darwintreelife is my fault -- i made this photo guide for ideal sample size by laying random kitchen and garden things out on my washing machine - 'lentil-sized' is now in the vernacular, even the Guardian is using it 🤣: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/may/13/no-visitors-but-teeming-with-life-behind-the-scenes-at-the-natural-history-museum-aoe
What's been happening @NHM_London in lockdown? @darwintreelife, amongst many other things! Collecting for genomes continued throughout https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/may/13/no-visitors-but-teeming-with-life-behind-the-scenes-at-the-natural-history-museum-aoe?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other
"There is grandeur in this view of life." Suggest your high priority British and Irish species for the #DarwinTreeofLife Project here: https://tinyurl.com/dtol-suggest Please RT! @NHM_London @TheBotanics @emblebi @sangerinstitute @kewgardens @thembauk @EarlhamInst @WythamWoods