A Danish Reference Genome Sequencing Infrastructure

Uniform, high-quality genome sequences are necessary for meaningful comparative genomic analysis across taxa. As we enter 2023 there are ca 10,000 distinct eukaryotic species for which we have full genome sequence information, or ca. 1% of the total known. However of these, fewer than 500 are sequenced to “chromosome reference quality”, a standard for contiguity, completeness and nucleotide base-calling accuracy recommended by the Earth BioGenome Project (EBP). We propose to leverage on Denmark's pre-existing sequencing and computational infrastructure to contribute to the EBP, but creating a technical hub for reference genome sequencing.