Sequencing human DNA took 13 years. Now scientists aim to bank the genetic material of all animals, fungi and plants in just 10 years, in a project that could help save endangered species – and uncover new patterns in the evolution of life.
The 2003 achievement made theTV news and newspapers around the world. Scientists had finally sequenced the full human genome. After a 13-year project, the Human Genome Project had identified almost three billion letters of molecular links that form our genetic material.
Things have moved quickly in the two decades since this scientific milestone, with new techniques and embedded expertise speeding up what is possible. At the Earth BioGenome Project, a global collaboration of scientists hopes to collect and analyse the full DNA of no fewer than two
