Connection #5 - DNA Rules & fair play
- luisamarins19
- 2 hours ago
- 2 min read
The European Reference Genome Atlas (ERGA) and the European node of the International Barcode of Life (iBOL Europe), two international communities of scientists brought together under the Biodiversity Genomics Europe Project, are joining forces for “Connections,” a series of blog posts that explore the fascinating world of Biodiversity Genomics and the intersection of their communities.
In our earlier posts, we celebrated the technical wizardry that empowers iBOL Europe’s DNA barcoding and ERGA’s reference-genome pipelines. Today, we zoom out from benchtop and bioinformatics queues to the rules for using those pipelines responsibly. The conversation here is based on two elements: the Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) and the debate over Digital Sequence Information (DSI). Both are under the umbrella of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), and both are poised to shape every barcoding run and every reference genome we produce.
The Nagoya Protocol, adopted in 2010 and enforced in 2014, translated the Convention’s promise of fair and equitable benefit‐sharing into operational obligations. Field teams who collect specimens must secure Prior Informed Consent and negotiate Mutually Agreed Terms before any genetic resource crosses a border. These administrative steps aim to curb scientific colonialism, foster respect for Indigenous knowledge systems, and channel royalties or capacity‐building back to the nation where the specimen was collected. iBOL Europe and ERGA already navigate this protocol daily, because each barcode voucher and each specimen used for the generation of a reference genome must carry a transparent legal pedigree.
The CBD entered into force in 1993, and the boom of sequence databases soon revealed a gap in the Convention. Indeed, the CBD focuses on physical samples, while genomic data travels instantly across digital platforms. The policy community coined the term Digital Sequence Information (DSI) to highlight this distinction - DSI refers to raw reads, assemblies, and barcodes. Since 2016, Parties to the Convention have sought a mechanism that extends benefit-sharing to these 'files' without impairing open science principles. Negotiators progressed at the Kunming–Montreal Conference of the Parties in 2022. This process led to the establishment of the Cali Fund for the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits from the Use of Digital Sequence Information on Genetic Resources during COP16 in 2024/2025, aimed at collecting contributions from commercial users of DSI. COP16 laid the groundwork for implementing these mechanisms, and ongoing discussions will continue to fine-tune the system.
ABS permits are NOT “boring compliance forms" to rush through on the eve of submission. They are architectural blueprints for an equitable, reproducible, and future-proof research culture. The sooner biodiversity researchers integrate Nagoya thinking and prepare for DSI benefit-sharing, the smoother the path for publishing, sharing, and reusing our data sets will be. So, the next time you plan a field expedition or start assembling a genome, remember: ethics is not a speed bump; it’s the on-ramp to a legacy of science that everyone can share.