Biodiscovery

Biodiscovery harnesses genetic, chemical and computational tools to mine the planet’s biodiversity for novel bioactive molecules. It spans systematic field sampling, high-throughput DNA barcoding, portable sequencing and advanced imaging to reveal new species and their specialised metabolites. By integrating sequencing technologies with machine-learning classification and miniaturised analytical platforms, researchers can now survey hyperdiverse “dark taxa,” rapidly pinpoint cryptic organisms and streamline the characterisation of compounds with therapeutic, agrochemical or industrial potential. Equitable access and benefit-sharing frameworks ensure that the value generated by these molecular innovations supports both local communities and global sustainability goals.

Research from Nature Portfolio

Recent large-scale DNA-barcoding surveys of flying insects sampled over 225 000 specimens from five biogeographical regions, revealing that just 20 families account for more than half of local species richness despite intense turnover in species composition. This work exposed extreme taxonomic neglect in hyperdiverse “dark taxa” and underscored the urgency for scalable barcoding to bring these lineages into systematic focus. In parallel, deep-learning classification of wing interferential patterns has enabled field-friendly identification of phlebotomine sandflies with over 77 % accuracy across multiple taxonomic levels, bypassing traditional morphometric bottlenecks and equipping entomological surveys with rapid, non-invasive diagnostics. Foundational inventory work in a single Costa Rican forest quantified more than 4 000 Diptera species, setting a benchmark for tropical insect diversity and guiding global extrapolations.

Research from all publishers

Oxford Nanopore MinION sequencers have catalysed decentralised DNA barcoding by delivering long-read COI amplicons in field settings. A 2019 study used 1D MinION sequencing to process 7 059 phorid fly specimens from Uganda, uncovering more than 650 previously unknown species in just eight weeks. Follow-up developments in user-friendly demultiplexing software produced thousands of barcodes on standard laptops with Sanger-comparable accuracy, thus lowering the barrier to large-scale species discovery in under-resourced regions. These advances demonstrate how portable, low-cost sequencing and streamlined bioinformatics can transform biodiversity assessment and accelerate the discovery of understudied lineages.

Biodiscovery publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in biodiscovery across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Biodiscovery: Exploration of natural organisms to identify and develop bioactive compounds for pharmaceuticals, agriculture or industry.

DNA barcoding: Use of a standard genetic marker (e.g., mitochondrial COI) to discriminate species and catalogue biodiversity.

Dark taxa: Hyperdiverse lineages that lack formal taxonomic attention and species names, often predominant in ecological surveys.

Nanopore sequencing: Real-time, single-molecule DNA sequencing technology that threads strands through protein pores to determine nucleotide order.

Wing interferential patterns (WIP): Unique light diffraction images on insect wings used as morphological fingerprinting for automated species identification.

References

1. Convergence of dominance and neglect in flying insect diversity. Nature Ecology & Evolution (2023).
2. Rapid, large-scale species discovery in hyperdiverse taxa using 1D MinION sequencing. BMC Biology (2019).
3. ONTbarcoder and MinION barcodes aid biodiversity discovery and identification by everyone, for everyone. BMC Biology (2021).
4. Comprehensive inventory of true flies (Diptera) at a tropical site. Communications Biology (2018).
5. Species identification of phlebotomine sandflies using deep learning and wing interferential pattern (WIP). Scientific Reports (2023).
6. Bioprospecting for Pharmaceuticals: An Overview and Vision for Future Access and Benefit Sharing.