S05 - The Global Genome Biodiversity Network (GGBN) Standards for Molecular Collections

Unsolicited contributions considered? No

Abstract

The GGBN (http://www.ggbn.org) is based on a Memorandum of Cooperation and is an unincorporated, international network of member organizations, which shares the aim of making high-quality, well-documented, and vouchered genomic samples of the Earth’s biodiversity discoverable for research. The mission and objective of GGBN is to foster collaborations among biodiversity repositories in order to comply with quality standards, best practices, interoperability, and exchange of material in accordance with national and international legislation and conventions, thereby benefiting society through additional research contributing to development and biodiversity conservation. The GGBN Data Standard provides a platform based on a documented agreement to promote the efficient sharing and usage of genomic sample material and associated specimen information in a consistent way. It builds upon existing standards commonly used within the community extending them with the capability to exchange data on tissue, environmental and DNA samples as well as sequences. The GGBN Data Standard has been recently extended to support environmental DNA and High Throughput Sequencing (HTS) library samples.

While respecting national law, GGBN requires that its members comply with the provisions of the Nagoya protocol (https://www.cbd.int/abs/). Thus researchers, genetic collections holding institutions (e.g. natural history museums, culture collections, zoos, herbaria), and networks should adopt a common best practice approach to manage Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS), as has been developed by GGBN. Best Practices for managing genetic collections and associated implementation tools, such as standard Material Transfer Agreements (MTA) and mandatory and recommended data fields in collection databases, are tools that will aid compliance.

Here we give an overview of current GGBN activities and our goals for the future. This session comprises updates on the GGBN Data Standard, the GGBN Data Portal, and GGBN’s best practices on ABS and the Nagoya Protocol for genetic collections holding institutions, with examples of their use and applicability for information sharing across existing and upcoming data aggregators and portals. The session will also show examples for biodiversity biobank management software systems.