Earth is in the midst of global biodiversity crisis, with
species loss 100-1,000-fold above the background extinction rate. Loss of
biodiversity threatens vital ecosystems on which humans depend, and until now,
extinction is irreversible, eradicating genomic diversity that has taken many
millions of years to evolve. It may not be possible to slow or halt
biodiversity loss without a deeper understanding of the origins, evolution,
adaptability, and ecological functions of diverse species, and the ecosystems
in which they evolve. Furthermore, the rapidly growing worldwide bioeconomy and
emerging needs in pandemic responsiveness and biodefense require broadening our
understanding of biodiversity. The Earth BioGenome Project (EBP) aims to
sequence, catalog, and characterize the genomes of all of Earth’s known plant,
animal, and microbial eukaryotic biodiversity; ~1.8 million species. The
ultimate aim of the EBP is to use these genomes as a foundation for revealing
the “rules of life,” i.e., how biological complexity arose, the relationship
between genotype and phenotype, and how biological systems evolve under
changing environmental conditions. Accomplishing these goals requires
multidimensional coordination at a global scale. I will review progress
made by EBP-affiliated projects, with a focus on producing and analyzing
reference-quality genomes at scale, across the eukaryotic tree of life and at
ecosystem scale. Examples of important findings made with reference-quality
genomes will be presented, and the challenges faced in achieving the goals of
the EBP will be discussed.