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Project Psyche : reference genomes for all Lepidoptera in Europe

Wright, Charlotte J. ; Wahlberg, Niklas LU ; Vila, Roger ; Mutanen, Marko ; Matos-Maraví, Pável ; Lucek, Kay ; Kleckova, Irena ; Dapporto, Leonardo ; Dincă, Vlad and Bruschini, Claudia , et al. (2025) In Trends in Ecology and Evolution 40(12). p.1234-1250
Abstract

Project Psyche is a transnational initiative to generate and study chromosome-level reference genomes of all ~11 000 species of Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths) found in Europe. Here, we describe the decentralised network of collection and sequencing hubs that has enabled rapid progress, the standardised protocols for sampling and sequencing, and the collaborative framework for data analysis. With over 1000 species already sequenced, Lepidoptera are at the forefront of biodiversity genomics with the most reference genomes of any eukaryotic order. The completed pan-European catalogue of openly accessible lepidopteran genomes will transform our understanding of evolution and ecology, inform conservation, and foster advances in... (More)

Project Psyche is a transnational initiative to generate and study chromosome-level reference genomes of all ~11 000 species of Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths) found in Europe. Here, we describe the decentralised network of collection and sequencing hubs that has enabled rapid progress, the standardised protocols for sampling and sequencing, and the collaborative framework for data analysis. With over 1000 species already sequenced, Lepidoptera are at the forefront of biodiversity genomics with the most reference genomes of any eukaryotic order. The completed pan-European catalogue of openly accessible lepidopteran genomes will transform our understanding of evolution and ecology, inform conservation, and foster advances in management of pests and invasive species. We highlight research areas that will benefit from this large-scale genome dataset.

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LU orcid ; LU ; LU ; LU orcid and LU
author collaboration
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
biodiversity, butterflies, conservation, evolution, moths, reference genomes
in
Trends in Ecology and Evolution
volume
40
issue
12
pages
17 pages
publisher
Elsevier
external identifiers
  • scopus:105023853199
  • pmid:41309387
ISSN
0169-5347
DOI
10.1016/j.tree.2025.10.007
language
English
LU publication?
yes
additional info
Publisher Copyright: © 2025 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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01ba4f58-215d-454b-b17b-2bbbc37001d6
date added to LUP
2026-03-02 09:29:11
date last changed
2026-08-05 09:28:10
@article{01ba4f58-215d-454b-b17b-2bbbc37001d6,
  abstract     = {{<p>Project Psyche is a transnational initiative to generate and study chromosome-level reference genomes of all ~11 000 species of Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths) found in Europe. Here, we describe the decentralised network of collection and sequencing hubs that has enabled rapid progress, the standardised protocols for sampling and sequencing, and the collaborative framework for data analysis. With over 1000 species already sequenced, Lepidoptera are at the forefront of biodiversity genomics with the most reference genomes of any eukaryotic order. The completed pan-European catalogue of openly accessible lepidopteran genomes will transform our understanding of evolution and ecology, inform conservation, and foster advances in management of pests and invasive species. We highlight research areas that will benefit from this large-scale genome dataset.</p>}},
  author       = {{Wright, Charlotte J. and Wahlberg, Niklas and Vila, Roger and Mutanen, Marko and Matos-Maraví, Pável and Lucek, Kay and Kleckova, Irena and Dapporto, Leonardo and Dincă, Vlad and Bruschini, Claudia and Wheat, Christopher W. and Vila, Marta and Torrado-Blanco, Laura and Todisco, Valentina and Rindos, Michal and Nguyen, Petr and Mulhair, Peter O. and Kamenova, Stefaniya and Hicks, Marcus and Espeland, Marianne and Drinnenberg, Ines A. and Doblas-Bajo, Mónica and Bailey, Richard I. and Blaxter, Mark and Meier, Joana I.}},
  issn         = {{0169-5347}},
  keywords     = {{biodiversity; butterflies; conservation; evolution; moths; reference genomes}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{12}},
  pages        = {{1234--1250}},
  publisher    = {{Elsevier}},
  series       = {{Trends in Ecology and Evolution}},
  title        = {{Project Psyche : reference genomes for all Lepidoptera in Europe}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2025.10.007}},
  doi          = {{10.1016/j.tree.2025.10.007}},
  volume       = {{40}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}