TerraGenome: An International Public Consortium for the Complete Sequencing of a Reference Soil Metagenome

The purpose of this presentation is to raise awareness in the wider international scientific community and funding bodies about the third global metagenomics sequencing initiative on our planet; i.e. to sequence the soil metagenome, following in the footsteps of similar initiatives for the marine environment and the human microbiome. The living soil is fundamental to all higher life on planet Earth and is of vital importance for terrestrial processes that determine our present life quality, including soil fertility, carbon and nutrient cycling and desertification. Given the importance of soil functions to most aspects of our lives, surprisingly little is understood of its vulnerability to perturbations or its functional resilience, for example, to land use changes or to changes in climate. Although microorganisms are responsible for the key functions in soils, the soil microbial community is one of the most diverse known and is largely unexplored. Soil microbes contain a largely hidden reservoir of genes that may be exploited for novel drugs, for bioremediation of pollutants and for improving the growth of plants or suppressing plant pathogens. Recent developments in high-throughput sequencing methods provide the essential tools for dissecting the information contained in the soil microbial gene pool. Large-scale metagenomic sequencing efforts will provide the data necessary to decipher the intricacies of the soil microbiome, including necessary information to understand microbial community diversity, interaction and function. Due to the magnitude of this task, we propose the establishment of a coordinated international effort to bring the global skills of the scientific community together to focus on sequencing and annotation of the soil metagenome. In this article, we highlight the key developments and challenges that need to be addressed for a large scale soil metagenomic sequencing effort and we call for the establishment of a global forum for debate and knowledge exchange.