Type Genomics: DNA Treasure in the Collections

Natural history collections around the world harbor an untapped treasure: the DNA of so-called type specimens. Somewhere in the world there exists a specimen of every known species – an animal, a plant, or a fossil – that has been used to officially describe and name that species. These unique and carefully preserved objects in the collections of museums and research institutions are the “official encyclopedias” of nature. They help researchers to uniquely identify and properly classify species.

“Type specimens are the foundation of biological nomenclature and our understanding of species,” explains the article’s first author, Dr. Harald Letsch from the University of Vienna and the Museum of Natural History Karlsruhe. “By decoding their genomes, we can better understand how species are related to each other, how they evolved, and how we can protect them.”

But time leaves its mark: Many of the type specimens are centuries old, fragile, and endangered due to ageing processes, improper storage, or natural disasters. Thanks to new sequencing technologies, it is now possible to extract genetic information even from very old and fragile objects without destroying them in the process.

The scientists from the University of Vienna and the Natural History Museum Vienna, the Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung, the Natural History Museum Berlin, the Leibniz Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change, and other institutions are calling for collection curators and researchers from the fields of taxonomy and genomics to work together more closely in order to harness the enormous potential of “type genomics” for biodiversity research Their appeal is part of a broader movement to digitize natural history collections. Preserving the physical integrity of type specimens is often at odds with the desire for their scientific use.

Any examination of the physical specimen or its loan to other institutions poses risks to the valuable objects. Modern technologies such as high-throughput sequencing based on minimally invasive DNA extraction methods and the creation of socalled “digital twins” offer new solutions to this problem: Highresolution images, morphometric data, and genetic information make the type specimens’ characteristics accessible to science without endangering the original specimens.

“Technologies such as high-resolution imaging and minimally invasive DNA extraction change everything,” emphasizes Dr. Steffen Pauls, the study’s senior author from the Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum Frankfurt. “We can obtain large amounts of data only once from a single specimen and then share this information globally without having to disturb the original again.”

“The creation of data-rich, comprehensively digitized collections through projects such as Type Genomics makes biodiversity information accessible for global research and underscores the value of museum collections as a central research infrastructure and living archives of Earth’s history,” adds Dr. Jenna Moore from the Leibniz Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change and the Museum of Nature in Hamburg.

To foster collaboration between curators, taxonomists, and genomic researchers, the team is designing a strategy to maximize data recovery from type specimens while minimizing the impact of DNA extraction and other museum-analytic procedures.

“Collaboration is key to optimizing both the quality and quantity of data from type specimens. Ideally, a type specimen should only be physically handled once in order to gain as much information as possible,” says Pauls.

In the future, museum networks and standardized DNA collection protocols could ensure that genomic data from type specimens is available worldwide.

Dr. Iker Irisarri from the Leibniz Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change and the Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales (MNCN-CSIC) in Madrid emphasizes, “The establishment of interlinked catalogs of natural history collections can accelerate the description of new species and specifically support the conservation of biodiversity – provided that the corresponding genome data is openly accessible.”

Dr. Harald Letsch is convinced: “The provision of genomic information from type specimens is a decisive step in the digital transformation of natural history collections. With collaborative expertise and modern technology, we can revolutionize research and preserve biological knowledge for future generations.”