The Human Side of Genome Sequencing

Ending with people.
Behind every reference genome is a human story. We close with personal reflections—from favorite species and field mishaps to hobbies and rituals—that remind us that this global mission is powered by curiosity, creativity, and the people who make it possible.

What’s a species in your region you feel emotionally connected to, and why?

**Mark Blaxter** with **Charlotte Wright** (left) and **Joana Meier** (right), celebrating the first **1,000 butterfly and moth genomes**. These genomes were produced by projects including **Project Psyche** and the **Darwin Tree of Life** project.
picture credit: Mark Thomson / **Wellcome Sanger Institute**

Mark Blaxter: We were cleaning up the messy field lab on Great Ciumbrae, an island off the West of Scotland, after a successful trip to collect rockpool and other littoral animals. I was about to dump a blade of oarweed into the bucket for return to the sea when I spotted a tiny jellyfish sticking to it. I couldn't believe my eyes: a stauromedusan stalked jellyfish! I had seen pictures of these beautiful animals in zoology books since I was child (Grizmek’s Animal Encyclopaedia!) and hadn't thought I would ever see one, never mind collect it for sequencing. Sure enough, the specimen was sequenced and generated a beautiful genome (see “The genome sequence of the spotted kaleidoscope jellyfish, Haliclystus octoradiatus” https://wellcomeopenresearch.org/articles/8-6).

What’s your favorite field story involving mud, weather, or wildlife mischief?

Carolyn Hogg: Tasmanian devils are a unique species whose population has been decimated by over 80% as a result of an infectious cancer. Devils have the second highest bite force of a terrestrial species, only second to a hyena, but will lay quietly in your lap as you process them as long as their eyes are covered, we can even ‘jugular bleed’ them whilst awake. We use PVC pipe traps and meat to bait them, and large males have a unique ability to steal the bait, by either rolling the trap so the door does not lock, or using their hind legs and tail to stop the door from closing so they can take the bait and leave.

**Carolyn Hogg** holding a juvenile Tasmanian devil they captured to tag as part of the ongoing management of the species on Maria Island.

What does everyday or “backyard” sampling reveal about where biodiversity genomics actually begins?

**Mark Blaxter**, happily lost in a hillside of bracken at **Beinn Eighe National Nature Reserve in northern Scotland** during a Darwin Tree of Life collection trip—coordinating sampling efforts while searching regenerating Scots pine forest for beetle larvae and the right kind of beetle frass to collect nematodes.

Mark Blaxter: When I took up my post in Tree of Life at the Wellcome Sanger Institute, I moved from sunny but northern Edinburgh to the balmy wilds of Cambridge. It is only 400 miles (600 km) south but the climate change and the biotic change was striking to me: I was seeing in my back garden all sorts of creatures that were mythical unicorns to me. They were in the standard insect guides for the UK, but were restricted to the warmer south, and I had never seen them before. Often they were “common” - but not to me. I soon started collecting from my garden for the Darwin project, and the garden now has an entry in the Natural History Museum big specimen database for a number of species collected for DToL. As far as I can tell everyone in DToL collects in their back gardens!