A £3 billion biodiversity play. That’s the scale of ambition behind a UK and Ireland effort to sequence all complex life, turning DNA into economic infrastructure.
For the seed sector, the key takeaway is the projected £800 million to £1.4 billion gain in agriculture. Reference genomes are expected to accelerate crop resilience, pest management and climate adaptation, tightening the link between biodiversity data and plant breeding innovation.
According to a new report, sequencing the DNA of all complex life across the UK and Ireland could generate almost £3 billion in economic value over the next 30 years across agriculture, conservation and research.
The Darwin Tree of Life Project brings together experts from the Wellcome Sanger Institute, the Natural History Museum and other partner organisations1 to sequence all findable eukaryotic species in the UK and Ireland, including animals, plants and fungi, spanning an estimated 30,000 species.
The report underlines the project’s strong return on investment, noting that the Darwin Tree of Life Project has already saved the global scientific community £55 million in research costs by making more than 2,500 reference genomes openly available.
DNA contains the biological instructions for every living organism, as well as a genetic record of where a species came from, how it evolved to meet new challenges, and how it may respond to change in the future.
The Human Genome Project decoded this for humans, and in turn, revolutionised science and medicine, generating more than $750 billion in economic activity from a $4 billion investment2. According to a press release, the Darwin Tree of Life Project, which started in 2019, aims to do the same for all the species around us in the UK and Ireland, and contribute to the wider, global Earth BioGenome project3.
The Frontier Economics report has identified three key areas where the economic impact will be felt:
- An estimated £800 million–£1.4 billion could be gained in UK agriculture over the next 30 years. High-quality reference genomes can be used to help find new ways to improve crop resilience, tackle invasive pests, ensure the sustainability of fish stocks, and find new ways to treat livestock diseases. For example, currently the UK’s Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science uses the sole and plaice genomes to improve and inform UK fishing quotas, focusing on long-term sustainability.
- An estimated benefit of £1.3 billion to UK ecosystem services from using Darwin Tree of Life reference genomes to identify threatened species, shape management decisions, and improve the success of conservation projects. For example, the pine hoverfly genome has been used in a successful species reintroduction and captive breeding effort conducted by the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland in the Cairngorms.
- An estimated £170 million– £340 million benefit to the research and innovation sector, through direct savings and reinvestment of funding into valuable research. The Darwin Tree of Life project will also stimulate innovation in specific technologies, including the biodiversity monitoring market, projected to reach $137 million globally by 2032. Darwin Tree of Life reference genomes can also help uncover the next generation of medicines and biomaterials in the genes of species around us. For example, harnessing the genes that enable spider silk to be stronger than steel, gram-for-gram, to develop new biomaterials or understanding more about a bat’s highly efficient immune system to help inform human medicine.
The Darwin Tree of Life Project has generated around 30% of the world’s biodiversity genomes, establishing it as a global leader in genomic research. It also supports international biodiversity genomics efforts by providing open-access protocols, tools and training, with experts contributing to projects in countries including Norway, Brazil and Australia.
“Capturing the genetic secrets of complex organisms in the UK and Ireland can help us understand how life has evolved and will adapt in the future,” Professor Ian Barnes, Research Leader at the Natural History Museum said. “Climate change threatens our food security, biodiversity, and ecosystems, causing environmental and economic impact. Our report shows that the Darwin Tree of Life reference genomes can help to offset this. The keys to some of our biggest challenges could be found in the DNA of the species we are studying. We need to invest in unlocking it to create a future where both people and planet thrive.”
- The full list of partners are the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh, CABI (Centre for Agriculture and Bioscience International), EMBL’s European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI), Wellcome Sanger Institute, Wytham Woods, University of Oxford, University of Cambridge, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, the Earlham Institute, the Natural History Museum, the University of Edinburgh, the Marine Biological Association, the Zoological Society London (ZSL) and University College Dublin. There are many more collaborators who are essential to the Project, providing samples and expertise across the UK and Ireland.
- Max Gitlin, J. (2013). Calculating the Economic Impact of the Human Genome Project. [Accessed March 2026] https://www.battelle.org/docs/default-source/misc/battelle-2011-misc-economic-impact-human-genome-project.pdf
- The Darwin Tree of Life Project contributes to the Earth BioGenome Project, which goes one step further, attempting to sequence all 1.6 million species of life on Earth. More information can be found: https://www.earthbiogenome.org/
Publication: J. Carvalho, H. Olorenshaw, D. Popov. (2026) ‘The value of reference genomes and the Darwin Tree of Life Project’. Frontier Economics. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.19472560
