The Thousand Butterfly Genomes That Could Help Save Nature
Sequencing 1,000 butterfly and moth genomes reveals new insights that could transform conservation.
Unravelling the secrets hidden in the DNA of butterflies and moths could help aid nature conservation, transform our understanding of evolution, and uncover new ways of tackling agricultural pests.
A major milestone has been reached, with experts across Europe, including those at the Wellcome Sanger Institute in Cambridge, UK, sequencing 1,000 species of butterflies and moths. This includes almost all UK butterflies, opening the door to help understand and protect UK biodiversity.
Project Psyche is an international initiative that aims to sequence all 11,665 species of butterflies and moths in Europe. This collaboration of researchers, taxonomists, policymakers, and citizen scientists published a new white paper (26 November) in Trends in Ecology & Evolution. It details how the genomes of all butterflies and moths can help answer evolutionary questions and address challenges such as food security.
The Human Genome Project laid the foundation that revolutionised our knowledge of human health. 25 years on, and many species on Earth are yet to be understood in this way.
Butterflies and moths, collectively known as Lepidoptera, are major players in ecosystems all around the world and make up around 10 per cent of all known eukaryotic species. They are a hugely diverse group, key pollinators and an important part of the food chain, both as herbivores and prey. Although some species are major pests, impacting agriculture, forests, and textile crops.
Lepidoptera are also key biodiversity and climate change indicators as they react quickly to environmental changes or habitat degradation. This means that a decline in butterfly numbers can serve as an early warning for wider losses in wildlife. Many conservation projects count butterflies and moths as a way to monitor the health of an ecosystem and inform whether conservation efforts are working.
Integrating genomics into conservation can help identify new and existing species, so they can be accurately monitored, and investigate the factors that might have led to new species or population decline. Genomes can also directly be used to estimate population size declines, connectivity between populations or levels of inbreeding. Given the ongoing decline in insect populations, with some data suggesting a 65 per cent decrease in flying insects in the UK since 2021, understanding more about the evolution of resilient species could help inform and protect other species.
For example, there is a project in Czechia that is using reference genomes from Project Psyche as part of its biodiversity monitoring programme, showing the real-world impact of having reference genomes for these species.
All 1,000 genomes produced so far are freely available. These are fuelling a range of research areas to understand more about how these insects evolved and diversified over the 230 million years of their existence. For example, a recent analysis of over 200 butterfly and moth genomes revealed that their chromosomes have remained largely unchanged.
Comparing the genomes of species that have disappeared, are declining, or are stable or growing can help us understand how environmental changes and human activities affect insect diversity and distribution.
For example, in the UK, butterfly reference genomes have been used to discover more about why the Black-veined White butterfly (Aporia crataegi) disappeared from Britain in the 1920s. This research compared museum butterfly specimens from extinct and existing populations to uncover possible genetic clues that could identify and manage at risk species in the future, especially those that are not well known or hard to track using traditional surveys.
Dr Saad Arif, who led the research mentioned above on the Black-veined White butterfly at Oxford Brookes University, said: “The availability of high-quality reference genomes, provided by collaborative initiatives such as Project Psyche, makes modern genomics research possible beyond a handful of select species. In particular, examining genomic footprints of decline in eradicated or extinct species would just not be feasible without the availability of such reference genomes.”
Dr Charlotte Wright, co-lead of Project Psyche at the Wellcome Sanger Institute, said: “Working with members across the world to build Project Psyche and harness genomics is incredibly important. Due to the diversity of butterflies and moths, we work closely with local experts and taxonomists, as many species look identical until they are under a microscope. In some cases, we only know the species because of what plant it was feeding on as a caterpillar. Taxonomic expertise is fading. We hope that one of the lasting impacts of Project Psyche will be close engagement between taxonomists and genomics researchers to gain a deeper understanding of natural history. By working together, we will also build a genetically informed evolutionary tree that describes how all butterflies and moths in Europe are related to each other. This is the foundation to answering questions about the past and help to be more prepared for the future.”
Dr Joana Meier, co-lead of Project Psyche at the Wellcome Sanger Institute, said: “Butterflies and moths are key players in our ecosystems, and an incredibly diverse group. The Project Psyche dataset already contains 1,000 species’ genomes, aiding current research and driving new understanding. Using these reference genomes, researchers can study genetic diversity, population structure, connectivity, and local adaptation across Europe. This is knowledge is critical for effective biodiversity management and policy, locally and globally. For example, genomics can help with identifying at-risk species, developing smarter pest control, and finding new ways to help protect biodiversity.”
Reference: Wright CJ, Wahlberg N, Vila R, et al. Project Psyche: reference genomes for all Lepidoptera in Europe. Trends Ecol Evol. 2025:S0169534725002927. doi: 10.1016/j.tree.2025.10.007
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