Working Group 3
High-quality reference genomes of Lepidoptera produced through large-scale consortiums, such as ERGA and Psyche, provide invaluable resources for evolutionary genomics research, evolutionary developmental biology, taxonomy and conservation of moths and butterflies. This working group aims to promote the use of the reference genomes and set best practice standards that fulfil the FAIR principles and enable collaborative research. Best practices established using Lepidoptera will serve as an example to the broader genomic community. Through WG3, different types of learning platforms will be provided, to enable early-career researchers and taxonomists as well as conservation biologists to utilise genome-based knowledge to answer their questions. Opportunities for early-career researchers to share their findings and form collaborations will be fostered, equipping them with the skills and network to be future leaders in genomics.
WG3 Objectives
- Promote knowledge sharing between research centres and early-career researchers through training opportunities, researcher exchanges and presentation forums.
- Generate shared, standardised genomic resources to be made available to the research community, following the FAIR principles for scientific data, to enable collaborative evolutionary studies.
- Collaborative comparative analysis of the 10,000 lepidopteran reference genomes.
- Facilitate equitable access to genomic resources through the availability of computational resources and toolkits that facilitate the use of the genomes without extensive bioinformatics experience, e.g. to answer taxonomic or conservation questions.
WG3 Activities
Genome Curation Workshop – February 2025
Over two weeks, 13 early-career researchers learnt how to curate genomes that are being produced by Project Psyche. This workshop was organised by Working Group 3 which focuses on the generation and utilisation of Psyche genomes. Genome curation is the essential last step of genome assembly. It involves carefully stitching pieces of DNA together into chromosomes. This produces a genome assembly where each chromosome is represented by a single sequence – fulfilling the genome quality standards of the Earth Biogenome Project.
First, the participants learnt how to interpret and manipulate Hi-C maps – the format in which genome curation is performed. Using these skills, they were then able to start to curate new genomes for Psyche. Incredibly, over 60 genomes were worked on during this week with many completed!
In addition to equipping researchers [MOU2] with a valuable skill in genomics, we hope that this marks the beginning of the curation of Psyche genomes being performed across Europe in line with the goal of Psyche and working group 3 of the lep10k COST action to build capacity in biodiversity genomics across Europe.
WEBPAGE: https://www.projectpsyche.org/
BlueSky account: @psychegenome
Discord server: https://bit.ly/psyche-discord