Thirteen years ago, a group of scientists came together to talk about sex. They were interested in how different species across the tree of life pass DNA onto the next generation. They dubbed their project the Tree of Sex.
The work culminated in a database capturing the reproductive strategies of over 22,000 species.
In the years since, scientists continued their research – somewhere between 200 and 300 papers have been published every year on sex chromosomes alone. At the same time, genomic technology leapt forward. Many believed the time was now ripe for a Tree of Sex v2.0.
Since the last Tree of Sex, a genomic revolution has occurred. DNA sequencing technologies have become more sophisticated, their yields have increased, and costs have come down. Along with several other biodiversity genomics consortia, the Sanger Institute’s Tree of Life Programme has begun producing top-quality reference genomes for all kinds of species, something that new long-read DNA sequencing technology has only made possible in the last few years.
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