Why a Virtual Global Biorepository? – Towards a Global Network of Biorepositories Ole Seberg Natural History Museum of Denmark October 10 th 2011

Why a Virtual Global Biorepository? –

Towards a Global Network of Biorepositories

Ole SebergNatural History Museum of Denmark

October 10th 2011

Natural History CollectionsNational Museum of Natural History, WashingtonThe Natural History Museum, London

Stockholm Berlin Copenhagen Paris

Natural History Museum of Denmark

GGI and Environmental Biorepositories

What are the problems?

• The Biological Problem – the Agony of Choice

• The Status, Scale, and Organisationof existent repositories

• The Quality Issue• The Informatics Problem• Limitations in access


The Number of Eukaryote Species on Earth

Species

Catalogued Predicted ± SE

Animalia 953,434 7,700,000 958,000

Chromista 13,033 27,500 30,500

Fungi 43,271 611,000 297,000

Plantae 215,644 298,000 8,200

Protozoa 8,118 36,400 6,690

Total 1,233,500 8,740,000 1,300,000


Mora, C. et al. 2011. How Many Species Are There on Earth and in the Ocean?PLoS Biology: e100127.

The Number of Eukaryote Species in the Ocean

Species

Catalogued Predicted ± SE

Animalia 171,082 2,150,000 145,000

Chromista 4,859 7,400 9,640

Fungi 1,097 5,320 11,100

Plantae 8,600 16,600 9,130

Protozoa 8,118 36,400 6,690

Total 193,756 2,210,000 182,000



The Number of “Known” Eukaryote Species on the Globe

Species

Catalogued Predicted %

Grand Total 1,438,769 10,960,000 13



The ”Species Scape”

Species


Grand Total 1,438,769 10,960,000 13

Species


Grand Total 1,750,000 14,000,000 13


Groombrige, B. & Jenkins, M. D. 2002. World Alas of Biodiversity: p. 19


What to Preserve? – Are all Species Equal?


• The charismatic species?• The nearly extinct species?• The threatened species? • The ecologically important/unique species?• The economically important and potentially

important species?• The evolutionary important/unique species?• The taxonomically important/unique

species?• The genetically important/unique species? • The carriers of important/unique genes?

.........etc.

What to ‘Collect’? – Systematics and the Agony of Choice


What to Preserve? – Are all Species Equal?


• Avoid unnecessary duplications• Decide what to collect and exchange• Decide what to dispose of

• The need for immediate access• The replacement cost• The irreplaceable objects

VS.

Summary:

• What biological resources should be preserved?

• Who should be responsible for their preservation?

• How can Biorepositories cope with the vast quantity of information and products emerging from the genomics revolution?








32%

54%

9%5%

1-500

501-5.000

5.001-10.000

10.001-

35%

29%

24%

12%

1-500

501-5.000

5.001-10.000

10.001-

Relative Sizes of Invertebrate Collections

DNA

Tissue


Natural History Collections/Biorepositories

Lessons from Europe

Relative Sizes of Mammals Collections

Tissue

47%

37%

11%5%

1-500

501-5.000

5.001-10.000

10.001-Tissue

61%

31%

8%

1-500

501-5.000

5.001-10.000

Tissue

DNA

Natural History Collections/Biorepositories


Lessons from Europe







The quality issue


•Quality management/quality assurance across all BRCs•Authenticity of the samples, accuracy of

labelling, databases and bioinformatics •Standards for ensuring long-term stability

of samples•Standards for citation of material

Natural History Collections/BiorepositoriesLesson from Europe

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Long-Term Storage

Liquid Nitrogen

- 80ºC

- 20ºC

Alcohol, silica gel or 5ºC

Pro

tists

Fung

iA

lgae

Lich

ens

Pla

nts

See

dsB

irds

Mam

mal

sFi

shO

ther

ver

t. In

vert

ebra

tes

Oth

er In

vert

.

Tissue


0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Long-Term Storage

Liquid Nitrogen

- 80ºC

- 20ºC

5ºC

Pro

tists

Fung

iA

lgae

Lich

ens

Pla

nts

See

dsB

irds

Mam

mal

sFi

shO

ther

ver

t. In

vert

ebra

tes

Oth

er In

vert

.

DNA


Natural History Collections/BiorepositoriesLessons from Europe

BRC Task Force Products

Biological Resource Centers (BRC)

• 66-page report released by the OECD in March, 2001

• 7 chapters:

1. Need for BRCs

2. Increasing Challenges of Biodiversity and Genomics

3. Long-term Financial Support

4. Ensuring Quality & Expertise

5. Access & Restrictions

6. Global Network of BRCs

7. Call for Action

Natural History Museum of Denmark Natural History Museum of Denmark







Towards an Integrated Global Network of Biorepository


Establishment of a Global internet platform for Biorepositories, by

• Liaise with National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov) and Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF, www.gbif.org) to secure optimal information exchange and reliability.

• Establishing and expanding types and levels of database documentation (e.g. extension of ABCDDNA) and evaluate possible demands on database language modules







Factors limiting access

•Protection health and safety•Import/export regulations•Intellectual property rights (IPR)

protection•Material transfer agreements•Protection of commercial rights


Access and Benefit Sharing



Access and Benefit Sharing

Policy ImplementationLessons from Europe

52%

30%

19%

59%

30%

11%

89%

7%4%

48%

37%

15%

48%

30%

22%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

DNA exchange Materialtransfer

agreement

Implemtationof CBD &

CITES

Implemtationof IPR

Benefitsharing

No answer

No

Yes


Policy Implementation

Lesson from Europe

26%

0%

63%

11%

Individual researcher

Department

Institution

No answer


What should a virtual biorepository network provide?

•Preserve global natural genetic diversity •Facilitate research and good scientific

practice in biodiversity genomics•Secure easy access and exchange of non-human DNA and tissue samples•Act as repositories for specimens,

samples used in publications



•High quality (perhaps even certified) identification of samples

•Standardized rating of the accuracy of identification, sampling location and other data to allow evaluation of collection items

and data•Coordinated and sustainable access to

samples genetic resources



•Improvement of collection quality (by knowledge transfer, specialisation, disaster

management)•Integration of DNA/tissue, specimen, and sequence data networks•Improved safety by exchange of material between DNA and tissue banks•Best practices guidelines and standards for linkage and accessibility of samples – e.g., minimally though high-quality digital images


AcknowledgementFinancial support by SYNTHESYS and EDIT

Grants from the Danish Natural Sciences Research Council

Logistical and moral support from the SYNTHESYS Team at the Natural History Museum (London) in particular from Rob Huxley and

Gemma Maldar

Samantha Mohun (Natural History Museum, London) and Tina Jørgensen (Natural History Museum of Denmark) for compiling the

questionnaire

Birgit Gemeinholzer and Holger Zetzsche (Botanischer Garten und Botanisches Museum, Berlin-Dahlem), Isabel Rey (Museo Nacional

Ciencias Naturale, Madrid), Gitte Petersen (NHMD)

for their efforts!


Documents

Why a Virtual Global Biorepository? – Towards a Global Network of Biorepositories Ole Seberg Natural History Museum of Denmark October 10 th 2011