Technology · Ecology & restoration / Ecosystem restoration

Biodiversity genomics

Sequencing and archiving the genomes of all eukaryotic life to support ecosystem restoration and bioprospecting.

Risk: low Ecology & monitoring US · CN · EU Science: why it works → verified 2026-07-02 · 6 Sources (0 independent)

1 · What it gives

Biodiversity genomics aims to decode the genetic blueprints of the planet’s entire eukaryotic biodiversity. The Earth BioGenome Project (EBP) — often called biology’s Moon program — is the central effort: a 10-year consortium target to sequence, catalogue and openly publish chromosome-level reference genomes for all of the roughly 1.5-1.8 million eukaryotic species (plants, animals, fungi and protists). This archive underpins three application domains: bioprospecting (mining secondary-metabolite pathways to port into synthetic-biology chassis for drugs and green chemistry), conservation genetics (detecting inbreeding depression and resolving disputed taxonomy for genetic-rescue programs), and food security (transferring stress-tolerance genes from crop wild relatives into commercial varieties via genome editing). With sequencing costs dropping below $1,000 per high-quality reference genome, the focus has shifted to automated ultra-long DNA extraction and open, decentralized data sharing.

The key directions of biodiversity genomics are:

Reference Genome Generation: Producing chromosome-level assemblies for keystone and endangered species.
Environmental DNA (eDNA) Monitoring: Tracking biodiversity changes by sequencing DNA shed into soil and water.
Bioprospecting: Mining genomic databases for novel enzymes and secondary metabolites for industrial use.
Conservation Genetics: Assessing genetic diversity within isolated populations to guide breeding programs.

Sectoral value chain#

[Sample Collection] ──> [DNA Extraction] ──> [Sequencing] ──> [Bioinformatics Assembly]
                                  │
                          (Annotation)
                                  │
                                  ▼
[Ecosystem Monitoring] <─── [Open Data Archiving] <─────┘

Value chain levels#

Level	Description	Key inputs/outputs
Sample Collection	field collection of tissues under the Nagoya Protocol, with morphological voucher archiving.	In: flora, fauna, collection permits. Out: flash-frozen voucher tissues.
DNA Extraction	isolating ultra-high-molecular-weight DNA without shearing.	In: frozen tissue, Nanobind magnetic disks. Out: UHMW DNA above 100 kb.
Sequencing	long-read sequencing on PacBio HiFi and Oxford Nanopore platforms.	In: UHMW DNA. Out: long reads above Q30.
Bioinformatics Assembly	reconstructing entire chromosomes de novo.	In: long reads, Hi-C contacts, Hifiasm/YaHS. Out: chromosome-level assemblies.
Open Data Archiving	storing sequences in public databases.	In: assemblies. Out: curated reference genomes (NCBI, ENA).
Ecosystem Monitoring	applying data to conservation policies.	In: genomes, eDNA. Out: species recovery plans.

Cross-cutting technologies of the sector:

Long-Read Sequencing: Technologies like Nanopore and PacBio enabling highly continuous genome assemblies.
Spatial Transcriptomics: Mapping gene expression directly within tissue sections to understand complex biology.
Cloud Computing: Massive scalable infrastructure required to process petabytes of genomic data.

2 · What it replaces 6 · matched by industry

D1E2	Lake and pond algal-bloom (cyanobacteria) control by nutrient reduction, biomanipulation (fish-stock management, zooplankton), submerged-plant restoration and floating wetlands — instead of copper sulfate and chemical algicides Replaces: Copper sulfate and other copper algicides, diquat/endothall-type aquatic herbicides, (partly) repeated chemical phosphorus inactivation …	SERV
D2E–	Cassava mealybug classical biological control with Anagyrus lopezi instead of insecticides Replaces: Insecticide spraying (rarely affordable for smallholders) and uncontrolled crop losses from the invasive cassava mealybug in Africa	CLASSIC
D1E4	Constructed (treatment) wetlands for villages, farms, small towns and stormwater — instead of chemical precipitation, chlorination of effluent, or discharge of untreated wastewater Replaces: Chlorination of small-plant effluents (chlorinated by-products), chemical phosphorus precipitation with iron/aluminium salts at small scale, …	SERV
D2E4	Dengue, Zika and chikungunya prevention with Wolbachia-infected Aedes aegypti (population replacement) and incompatible insect technique — instead of repeated insecticide fogging Replaces: Pyrethroid and organophosphate space spraying (fogging) and indoor residual spraying against Aedes in cities; temephos in household water	RELEASE
D1E4	Durable wood without toxic preservatives — furfurylated wood (from agricultural residues), acetylated wood, thermally modified wood, naturally durable species and constructive protection — instead of CCA, creosote and biocidal impregnation Replaces: Chromated copper arsenate (CCA), creosote (coal-tar), pentachlorophenol (PCP), copper-azole and other biocidal wood preservatives for …	BUILD
D1E–	Garden, allotment and lawn pest control with beneficial nematodes — Phasmarhabditis against slugs, Steinernema/Heterorhabditis against vine weevil, chafer grubs, leatherjackets — instead of metaldehyde pellets and soil insecticides Replaces: Metaldehyde slug pellets (banned outdoors in Great Britain from 2022), methiocarb pellets (EU non-renewed), soil insecticides in gardens and …	MACRO

3 · How to implement 6 steps

1
Tissue Sampling
Field biologists collect fresh tissue samples, instantly freezing them in liquid nitrogen to perfectly preserve cellular DNA integrity.
2
UHMW DNA ExtractionExtraction
Laboratories utilize specialized magnetic nanodisks to gently isolate ultra-high molecular weight DNA without mechanical shearing.
Who can do this step matched automatically
Birufinery Indonesia
“Core product: BiruLift, a biostimulant made from tropical seaweed extracts (designed to reduce chemical fertilizer use while improving crop growth/yield and resilience) and it uses …”
Aum Enzymes / Infinita Biotech India
“Aum Enzymes is a metabolic engineering firm specializing in generally regarded safe microbial origin Industrial, Food, Feed, Neutraceutical, cosmetic, plant origin [botonical] …”
Agroenzymas Mexico
“Formulation and extraction technology for stimulating compounds and growth cofactors that ensure the high reactivity of our products.”
3
Long-Read SequencingTesting & analytics
Extracted DNA is processed through Nanopore or PacBio systems, generating massive datasets of continuous, multi-kilobase reads.
Who can do this step matched automatically
Esco Aster Singapore
✓ ISO 9001 5,000 L industrial scale
“Esco Aster (Singapore) is a cGMP contract research, development and manufacturing organization (CRDMO/CDMO) and bioinnovation venture accelerator that helps clients and …”
BRAIN Biotech Germany
✓ ISO 9001 industrial scale
“As a contract research organization (CRO), we provide smart, rapid, and effective solutions using cutting-edge technologies to drive customer success.”
Turion Labs Singapore
“Turion Labs is a Singapore-headquartered biotech innovation platform that provides shared laboratory infrastructure, contract research organization (CRO) services, and regulatory …”
Vaxxinova Norway Norway
industrial scale
“Vaxxinova develops, produces and markets a wide range of innovative vaccines and diagnostic services to protect livestock and fish against diseases.”
4
Bioinformatics AssemblyData, software & automation
Supercomputers run complex graph algorithms to piece the reads together, utilizing Hi-C data to scaffold the contigs into full chromosomes.
Who can do this step matched automatically
JALA Indonesia
“JALA (jala.tech) is a female-led Indonesian end-to-end, data-driven shrimp aquaculture platform that digitizes pond operations, uses IoT water-quality monitoring and analytics to …”
Sanatech Seed Japan
industrial scale
“Its business spans seed development, agricultural data platforms (soil, water quality, crop data), and partnerships with farmers and feed companies, with aspirations to integrate …”
China Everbright Environment Group China
163,050 tonnes
“As the fundamental component of 5G deployment, optic fibre is critical to making Hong Kong a smart city and laying the groundwork for IoT.”
Superbac Brazil
✓ ISO 9001
“Dados disponibilizados no DATABAC, nosso software interativo de análise de microbiomas que facilita a comparação entre amostras e interpretação dos resultados.”
5
Gene Annotation
Automated AI pipelines scan the assembled chromosomes to identify genes, regulatory elements, and structural variants.
6
Public Release
The fully curated, high-quality reference genome is uploaded to central databases like GenBank or ENA for open scientific access.

4 · Who delivers

Matched suppliers (matched automatically)

re.green	Brazil	Producer	active
Biomas	Brazil	Not classified	active
BioConsortia	United States	Producer	active

In the services and supply catalogue 1 · paid service

Analytical & testing services

Leading companies and institutes (from the brief)

Company / Institute	Country	Key products / platforms	Tech features	Status 2026
Wellcome Sanger	🇬🇧 UK	Darwin Tree of Life	High-volume de novo assembly	commercial
BGI	🇨🇳 China	Stereo-seq platforms	Spatial transcriptomics	commercial
UC Davis	🇺🇸 USA	EBP Hub coordination	Standardizing >Q40 metrics	commercial
Max Planck Institute	🇩🇪 Germany	Bioinformatics tools	Complex polyploid assemblers	commercial
Genoscope	🇫🇷 France	Marine metagenomics	Environmental screening	commercial
Oxford Nanopore	🇬🇧 UK	MinION/PromethION	Ultra-long read sequencing	commercial

5 · Rules & route to market

Route into Russia / EAEU: SERV · — (operator: Rosprirodnadzor, Rostechnadzor)
none for the service; operator permits (integrated environmental permit ~1 month)
Information, not legal advice — confirm the procedure for your product. (2026-10-06)

United States

The United States acts as the central administrative hub for global biodiversity initiatives, coordinating standards and data protocols for the Earth BioGenome Project.

EBP coordination, High-throughput sequencing, Cloud infrastructure#

EBP coordination hub: UC Davis (Harris Lewin’s working group) coordinates the global EBP network and its assembly-quality metrics (contig N50 above 1 Mb, base accuracy above Q40).
Vertebrate Genomes Project: Erich Jarvis’s group at Rockefeller University drives the VGP, targeting reference genomes for all roughly 70,000 vertebrate species with PacBio HiFi reads.
Smithsonian collections and NCBI: the Smithsonian Institution anchors specimen and voucher curation for US ecosystem-sequencing initiatives, while NCBI archives the open genomic data.

European Union

The European Union focuses on deep ecological genomics, sequencing entire ecosystems to understand the impacts of climate change and discover novel bioproducts.

Darwin Tree of Life, Marine genomics, Data sovereignty#

Darwin Tree of Life: the Wellcome Sanger Institute-led DtL project aims to sequence all roughly 70,000 eukaryotic species of Britain and Ireland, running one of the world’s highest-throughput de novo assembly pipelines.
Marine bioprospecting: France’s Genoscope sequences ocean microbiomes (notably the Tara Oceans expeditions), screening for extremophile enzymes useful to green chemistry.
Assembly algorithms and open data: the Max Planck Institute (Myers lab) develops the overlap-layout graph mathematics behind modern assemblers, and EMBL-EBI hosts open European bioinformatics infrastructure.

China

China is heavily investing in massive sequencing infrastructure, leveraging automation to rapidly sequence thousands of Asian plant and animal species.

Stereo-seq, 10KP Project, Mass automation#

Spatial genomics: BGI-Research pairs its proprietary Stereo-seq spatial-transcriptomics platform with whole-genome assembly of rare Asian plants.
Large-scale projects: the 10,000 Plant Genomes (10KP) and companion eukaryote programmes sequence mosses, ferns, algae and endemic animals on BGI’s DNBSEQ platforms; the Kunming Institute of Zoology holds the leading databases of Chinese wild-mammal evolutionary zoogeography.
National databases: the China National GeneBank (CNGB) securely hosts the country’s immense biodiversity datasets.

6 · Money: tenders & grants

Grant	Open topic: Using the Circular Cities and Regions Initiative to strengthen urban manufacturing in support of … European Commission · EU	Apr 8, 2027 174 days
Grant	Strengthening forest research for the support of Ukraine European Commission · EU	Sep 22, 2027 341 days
Grant	Technical innovation to protect ecosystems and to scale up their restoration European Commission · EU	Sep 22, 2027 341 days

7 · Tech stack & innovations

Modern biodiversity genomics depends entirely on breakthroughs in extracting ultra-long DNA molecules and algorithmic assembly of highly repetitive regions.

UHMW DNA Extraction:
- Nanobind magnetic disks (a nanosilica-coated surface) gently wind ultra-long DNA under mild rocking, keeping fragments above 100 kb that long-read sequencing needs.
- gentle, low-shear lysis preserves megabase-scale chromosomes that spin-column kits would fragment.
Sequencing Technologies:
- PacBio HiFi and Oxford Nanopore generate multi-kilobase reads above Q30 that resolve repetitive regions short reads cannot.
- Hi-C chromatin conformation capture fixes chromatin with formaldehyde and proximity-ligates physically close DNA, producing the contact map that scaffolds contigs into chromosomes.
Bioinformatics Algorithms:
- Hifiasm builds accurate contigs from HiFi reads, Purge_dups removes haplotype duplicates, and YaHS orders contigs into chromosome-scale scaffolds using Hi-C contacts.
- AI annotation pipelines such as Braker3 rapidly label genes, regulatory elements and biosynthetic gene clusters across novel species.

Sources 6 · 0 independent · 6 producer sites

Producers' own sites 6

Wellcome sanger producer checked 2026-04-16 · link not kept
Bgi producer checked 2026-06-28 · link not kept
Uc davis producer checked 2026-02-03 · link not kept
Max planck institute producer checked 2026-06-17 · link not kept
Genoscope producer checked 2026-06-09 · link not kept
Oxford nanopore producer checked 2026-06-28 · link not kept