Scientists working with the National Museum of Natural History’s Global Genome Initiative will strategically capture genomic samples missing from the world’s biorepositories. Samples will represent diversity from the major branches on the tree of life and will be made available to researchers worldwide, furthering understanding and preservation of biodiversity in an era of global change. On July 8, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History announced that scientists with the museum’s Global Genome Initiative — a component of the Smithsonian Institute for Biodiversity Genomics — will capture the genomic diversity of half the world’s living plant genera in less than two years.
Image credit: Adrian Van Allen