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Acknowledgements
This paper has benefited from the support and resources provided by the African BioGenome
Project (AfricaBP). We would also like to thank V. Ras at the University of Cape Town, Cape Town,
and the University of the Western Cape, Bellville, South Africa, for providing input in the initial
draft and reviewing the final draft of the manuscript. This work is dedicated to the memory of
Dr Girish Beedessee, a valued co-author on this paper, who, with deep regret, passed away
while the manuscript was under editorial consideration. Dr Beedessee was a lifelong contributor
to the study of protists and their ecological roles, with a particular focus on adaptation and
lifestyles. Since 2021, he had been a committed and valued member of the African BioGenome
Project, serving on the Annotation Subcommittee. His scientific contributions and collegial
spirit leave a lasting imprint on the field and those who had the privilege to work alongside him.
Nature Reviews Biodiversity | Volume 2 | April 2026 | 258–272 272
Roadmap
Author contributions
Conceived idea: S.M.K., M.B. and T.E.E.; literature review: S.M.K., M.B., T.E.E., B.B., S.P.,
A.W.T.M., S.I.N., J.A.N., S.B.S.G., I.H., D.N.O., A.S., S.M. and K.T.; questionnaire development
and collection: J.E.I. and V.N.S.; questionnaire analysis: T.E.E., B.B. and G.B.; production of
manuscript diagram: T.E.E., G.B. and A.E.A.; manuscript drafting: S.M.K., M.B., V.S., E.H.K.-N.,
A.E.A., S.B.S.G., I.H., D.N.O., A.S., S.M., K.T., F.J.B.M., S.C.E., C.E., H.G., R.O.-A. and C.R.T.;
manuscript revision: S.M.K., M.B., J.E.I., T.E.E., B.B., S.P., A.W.T.M., S.I.N. and I.H.; supervision,
oversight and leadership responsibilities: T.E.E.; journal correspondence: T.E.E.; manuscript
review and approval: all authors.
Competing interests
J.E.I. is a Principal Investigator at MyAfroDNA. D.N.O. is a Consultant Bioinformatician at
Eurekan Biotechnologies.
Additional information
Supplementary information The online version contains supplementary material available at
https://doi.org/10.1038/s44358-026-00143-3.
Peer review information Nature Reviews Biodiversity thanks the anonymous reviewers for their
contribution to the peer review of this work.
Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in
published maps and institutional affiliations.
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this
article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author
self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the
terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
Related links
African BioGenome Project: https://africanbiogenome.org
Cali Fund: https://www.cbd.int/califund
Cartagena Protocol: https://bch.cbd.int/protocol
Convention on Biological Diversity: https://www.cbd.int/
Global Alliance for Genomics and Health Passports: https://www.ga4gh.org/
Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework: https://www.cbd.int/gbf
Nagoya Protocol: https://www.cbd.int/abs
© Springer Nature Limited 2026
1Centre for Tropical Livestock Genetics and Health (CTLGH) – International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), Nairobi, Kenya. 2School of Law, University
of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa. 3Faculty of Sciences, Mohammed V University in Rabat, Rabat, Morocco. 4African Genome Center, University
Mohammed VI Polytechnic (UM6P), Ben Guerir, Morocco. 5INFANT Research Centre, College of Medicine and Health, University College Cork, Cork,
Ireland. 6Federal University of Lafia, Lafia, Nigeria. 7Department of Applied Sciences, Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, Northumbria University,
London, UK. 8Neurogenetics of Language, The Rockefeller University, New York, NY, USA. 9Unit for Environmental Sciences and Management, North-West
University, Potchefstroom, South Africa. 10African Sustainable Agriculture Research Institute (ASARI), Mohammed VI Polytechnic University (UM6P),
Laâyoune, Morocco. 11Applied Genetics in Agriculture, Ecology and Public Health Laboratory, University of Tlemcen, Tlemcen, Algeria. 12School of Life
Sciences, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK. 13Institute of Systems, Molecular and Integrative Biology, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK. 14Eurekan
Biotechnologies, Plantation, Florida, USA. 15SequAna Core Facility, Department of Biology, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany. 16Department of
Genetics, Faculty of Agriculture, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt. 17Bio and Emerging Technology Institute (BETin), Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. 18Addis Ababa
University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. 19Finima Nature Park, Bonny Island, Nigeria. 20Department of Animal Science, School of Agriculture, University
of Ghana, Accra, Ghana. 21Delta State University, Abraka, Nigeria. 22University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa. 23School of Engineering,
University of British Columbia – Okanagan, Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada. 24Science for Africa Foundation, Nairobi, Kenya. 25Bernhard-Nocht
Institute of Tropical Medicine, Hamburg, Germany. 26Bioinformatics Laboratory, College of Computing, Mohammed VI Polytechnic University, Ben Guerir,
Morocco. 27National Defence University-Kenya, Lanet, Kenya. 28Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Juja, Kenya. 29MyAfroDNA,
Port Harcourt, Nigeria. 30African BioGenome Project (AfricaBP), Juja, Kenya. 31These authors contributed equally: Sally Mueni Katee, Marietjie Botes.