Published February 27, 2026 | Version v1
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Biodiversity Genomics Europe (BGE) Project – Abridged Grant Proposal

Authors/Creators

  • 1. Naturalis Biodiversity Center, Leiden, Netherlands|Distributed System of Scientific Collections - DiSSCo, Leiden, Netherlands
  • 2. CIBIO, Centro de Investigação Em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, InBIO Laboratório Associado, Universidade Do Porto, Vairão, Portugal|BIOPOLIS Program in Genomics, Biodiversity and Land Planning, CIBIO, Vairão, Portugal
  • 3. Tree of Life, Wellcome Sanger Institute, Hinxton, United Kingdom
  • 4. Leibniz Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change, Museum Koenig Bonn, Bonn, Germany
  • 5. Department of Natural History, NTNU University Museum, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
  • 6. Instituto de Productos Naturales y Agrobiología (IPNA-CSIC), La Laguna, Tenerife, Islas Canarias, Spain
  • 7. ELIXIR Hub, Hinxton, United Kingdom
  • 8. CIBIO, Centro de Investigação Em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, InBIO Laboratório Associado, Universidade Do Porto, Vairão, Portugal|BIOPOLIS Program in Genomics, Biodiversity and Land Planning, CIBIO, Vairão, Portugal|Departamento de Biologia, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal
  • 9. Natural History Museum, London, United Kingdom
  • 10. Naturalis Biodiversity Center, Leiden, Netherlands
  • 11. Centro Nacional de Analisis Genomico (CNAG), Barcelona, Spain|Universitat de Barcelona (UB), Barcelona, Spain
  • 12. Faculty of Agriculture, Forest Science & Natural Environment, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece
  • 13. Génomique Métabolique, Genoscope, Institut François Jacob, Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique (CEA), CNRS, Université Evry, Université Paris-Saclay, Evry, France
  • 14. Department of Biology, University of Florence, Sesto Fiorentino (FI), Italy
  • 15. Faculty of Environmental Protection, Velenje, Slovenia|Faculty of Mathematics, Natural Sciences and Information Technologies, University of Primorska, Koper, Slovenia
  • 16. European Molecular Biology Laboratory, European Bioinformatics Institute, Wellcome Genome Campus, Hinxton, United Kingdom
  • 17. Hungarian National Museum Public Collection Centre - Hungarian Natural History Museum, Department of Zoology, Budapest, Hungary
  • 18. Institute of Marine Biology, Biotechnology and Aquaculture, Hellenic Centre for Marine Research (HCMR) Crete, Heraklion, Greece
  • 19. Institute of Evolutionary Biology (CSIC-UPF), Barcelona, Spain
  • 20. The Vertebrate Genome Laboratory, The Rockefeller University, New York, United States of America
  • 21. Genomics and Epigenomics Translational Research (GENeTres), Center for Interdisciplinary Research and Innovation (CIRI-AUTH), Thessaloniki, Greece|Department of Genetics, Development and Molecular Biology, School of Biology, Faculty of Science, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece
  • 22. The Department of Computer Science, the University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom
  • 23. Department of Invertebrate Zoology & Hydrobiology, Faculty of Biology and Environmental Protection, University of Lodz, Lodz, Poland
  • 24. Bioinformatics Group, Department of Computer Science, Albert-Ludwigs University Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
  • 25. European Molecular Biology Laboratory, European Bioinformatics Institute, Wellcome Genome Campus, Hinxton, United Kingdom|Health Data Research UK, London, United Kingdom
  • 26. SNSB - Bavarian State Collection of Zoology, Munich, Germany
  • 27. Department of Ecology and Genetics, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
  • 28. Faculty of Mathematics, Natural Sciences and Information Technologies, University of Primorska, Koper, Slovenia
  • 29. Centre for Ecological and Evolutionary Synthesis, Department of Biosciences, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
  • 30. University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia
  • 31. Department of Medical Biochemistry and Microbiology, National Bioinformatics Infrastructure Sweden, SciLifeLab, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
  • 32. Julie Ann Wrigley Global Futures Laboratory, Arizona State University, Tempe, United States of America
  • 33. Naturalis Biodiversity Center, Leiden, Netherlands|Department of Environmental Biology, Institute of Environmental Sciences (CML), Leiden University, Leiden, Netherlands
  • 34. Natural History Museum, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway|Centre for Ecological and Evolutionary Synthesis, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway|University of New Brunswick Saint John, Saint John, Canada|Tjärnö Marine Laboratory, University of Gothenburg, Strømstad, Sweden|Centre for Coastal Research, University of Agder, Kristiansand, Norway
  • 35. National Museum of Natural Sciences, Madrid, Spain
  • 36. Institut de Biologie de l'ENS (IBENS), CNRS UMR 8791, Université PSL, Paris, France
  • 37. Natural History Museum, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
  • 38. Evolutionary Ecology Group, Department of Biology, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium
  • 39. SciLifeLab, Uppsala Biomedical Centre (BMC), Uppsala, Sweden|National Genomics Infrastructure, Uppsala Genome Center, Uppsala, Sweden|Department of Immunology, Genetics and Pathology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
  • 40. Faculty of Civil Engineering, University of Rijeka, Rijeka, Croatia
  • 41. Consortium of European Taxonomic Facilities (CETAF), Brussels, Belgium
  • 42. Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
  • 43. Berlin Center for Genomics in Biodiversity Research, Berlin, Germany|Department of Evolutionary Genetics, Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, Berlin, Germany
  • 44. SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, Lausanne, Switzerland|University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland

Description

The Biodiversity Genomics Europe (BGE) Project has the overarching aim of accelerating the use of genomic science to enhance understanding of biodiversity, monitor biodiversity change, and guide interventions to address its decline. The BGE Project comprises activities focused on DNA Barcoding (Barcoding Stream) and Reference Genome Generation (Genomes Stream) for eukaryotic species across Europe, bringing together two European networks: the International Barcode of Life in Europe (iBOL Europe) and the European Reference Genome Atlas (ERGA). This publication is an abridged version of the successful grant proposal developed jointly by iBOL Europe and ERGA in response to the Horizon Europe call HORIZON-CL6-2021-BIODIV-01-01. Two key strands of genomic science form the basis of this proposal: DNA barcoding - sequencing short, standardised genomic regions to tell the world's species apart, transforming the speed of completion of the inventory of life on Earth and providing the foundations of a global bio-surveillance system for biodiversity; and genome sequencing - generating high-quality complete reference genomes for all species on Earth, transforming understanding of biodiversity at the genetic level, and delivering fundamental knowledge of how biological systems function and how species respond and adapt to environmental change. The BGE Project objectives are focused on (i) Capacity: To establish functioning biodiversity genomics networks at the European level to connect and grow community capacity to use genomic tools to tackle the biodiversity crisis; (ii) Production: To establish and implement large-scale biodiversity genomic data generation pipelines for Europe to accelerate the production and accessibility of genomic data for biodiversity characterisation, conservation, and biomonitoring; and (iii) Application: To apply genomic tools to enhance understanding of pan-European biodiversity and biodiversity declines to improve the efficacy of management interventions and biomonitoring programmes.

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Additional details

Cites
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Has part
Figure: 10.3897/rio.12.e187550.figure5 (DOI)
Figure: 10.3897/rio.12.e187550.figure1 (DOI)
Figure: 10.3897/rio.12.e187550.figure2 (DOI)
Figure: 10.3897/rio.12.e187550.figure3 (DOI)
Figure: 10.3897/rio.12.e187550.figure4 (DOI)
Figure: 10.3897/rio.12.e187550.figure6 (DOI)

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