The pilot project of the European Reference Genome Atlas (ERGA) initiative

The preservation of biodiversity and restoration of Europe’s ecosystems are included in the six political guidelines and priorities of the European Commission. Europe is the third largest continent and is home to over 200,000 eukaryotic species, many of which are endemic. The IUCN red list for Europe assessed that around 22.7% of the species are threatened with extinction. Therefore, an assessment of pan-European biodiversity that can inform conservation strategies is essential. This can be achieved via genome sequencing and/or DNA barcoding. Particularly important targets include threatened/endangered species, ecologically keystone species and economically important species (e.g. pollinators and their biome, soil, forest, and marine and freshwater communities as well as invasive species and disease vectors). As one of the key steps for cataloging biodiversity across Europe, we established the European Reference Genome Atlas (ERGA) initiative, a pan-European consortium of >500 members with the goal of generating high quality reference genome assemblies of European species. This consortium was built upon growing genomic consortium initiatives in Europe (e.g. Darwin Tree of Life, Endemixit) and globally (e.g. Vertebrate Genome Project, Bat1K) and it is the European hub of the Earth BioGenome Project. To demonstrate the feasibility of such continent-wide collaboration, ERGA has launched a Pilot Project with the goal of generating at least one high-quality reference genome for each European country that can support biological discovery for the broader scientific community. ERGA is committed to diversity, equity and inclusion through synergistic collaborations between ERGA researchers.