地球基因组计划——下一个登月计划
In the first attempt of its kind, researchers plan to sequence all known species of eukaryotic life—66,000 species of animals, plants, fungi, and protozoa—in a single country, the United Kingdom.
在这类研究的首次尝试中，研究人员计划对英国这个国家内的已知的所有真核生物——66000种动物、植物、真菌和原生动物——进行测序。
The announcement was made here today at the official launch of an even grander $4.7 billion global effort, called the Earth BioGenome Project (EBP), to sequence the genomes of all of Earth’s known 1.5 million species of eukaryotes within a decade.
这项宣布是今天在规模更大的地球生物基因组计划(EBP)的官方启动仪式上宣布的，该计划耗资47亿美元，名为“地球生物基因组计划”(Earth BioGenome Project, EBP)，将在10年内对地球上已知的150万种真核生物的基因组进行测序。
“We feel it is the next moonshot for biology,” says EBP project chair Harris Lewin, a genomicist at the University of California, Davis.
“我们认为这是生物学的下一个登月计划，”加州大学戴维斯分校的基因学家、EBP项目主席哈里斯·列文说。
Researchers say the genomes will provide multiple benefits, including new insights into the evolution, assisting in biodiversity conservation, and benefiting agriculture and medicine.
研究人员说，这些基因组将提供多种益处，包括对进化的新见解、协助生物多样性保护以及造福农业和医药。
In terms of genomes sequenced, the eukaryotes—the branch of complex life consisting of organisms with cells that have a nucleus inside a membrane—lag far behind the bacteria and archaea.
就基因组测序而言，真核生物——复杂生命的一个分支，由在膜内有细胞核的生物体组成——远远落后于细菌和古生菌。
Researchers have sequenced just about 3500 eukaryotic genomes, and only 100 at high quality.
研究人员只测序了3500个真核基因组，只有100个是高质量的。
In 2015, EBP’s founders hatched the idea to massively expand these numbers.
2015年，EBP的创始人萌生了大规模扩大这些数字的想法。
“This was an effort that bubbled up from scientists wanting to know more about how the world works,” says John Kress of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C., a co-chair of the project’s working group.
华盛顿特区史密森学会国家自然历史博物馆的约翰·克雷斯说:“这些努力是源于科学家们想要知道更多关于世界是如何运作的，”他是该项目工作组的联合主席。
Lewin says the partners now have about a third of the funding on hand to complete the first phase of the EBP project. This phase, which will include sequencing genomes of one species from each of 9000 taxonomic families, should cost about $600 million over 3 years.
列文说，合作伙伴现在手头有大约三分之一的资金来完成EBP项目的第一阶段。这一阶段将包括9000个分类学家族中每个物种的基因组测序，在3年的时间内将花费大约6亿美元。
Lewin expects the rest of the funding for the first phase will be secured within a year. In years 4 to 7, genomes would be sequenced from representatives of each genus, followed by the remainder of the species.
卢因预计第一阶段的剩余资金将在一年内到位。在第4年至第7年，将对每个属的代表进行基因组测序，然后是该物种的其余部分。
“Now, our task is to persuade the National Science Foundation—and a lot of others—that the Earth BioGenome Project will be the next moonshot,” Kress says.
克雷斯说:“现在，我们的任务是说服国家科学基金会和其他许多机构相信，地球生物基因组计划将是下一个登月计划。”
对于这项宏伟的计划朋友们有什么看法呢？欢迎给amber留言哦！
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