Biological Sources Research Articles

Recent Innovations in Biosurfactant Production: Exploring Biomedical and Environmental Applications: A Review

The unique characteristics and ecological friendly nature of biosurfactants, which are compounds with amphiphilic properties derived from biological sources, have garnered considerable interest. This review article explores into the fascinating characteristics of biosurfactants, with a particular emphasis on identifying and studying microorganisms that produce biosurfactants in unusual conditions, such as harsh ecosystems and agricultural wastes. Using innovative techniques, researchers investigated a wide variety of microbial strains for their ability to produce biosurfactants and evaluated the biosurfactants that were recovered. Furthermore, researchers also conducted assays on a laboratory scale to explore their possible uses in fields including bioremediation and increased oil recovery. The effectiveness of biosurfactants in combating environmental problems and fostering sustainability is emphasized in this investigation. Additionally, researchers considered cost-effective techniques while evaluating the economic viability of biosurfactant production. These findings provide insight into strategies to effectively incorporate biosurfactants into new technologies for a range of applications. This study highlights the potential of biosurfactants as eco-friendly alternatives in industrial processes and enhances the awareness of their sources of production. The purpose is to explore a more sustainable future by integrating biosurfactants into widespread biomedical devices while supporting further research and advancement in the pharmaceutical industry.

Unlocking the Potential of Hydrosols: Transforming Essential Oil Byproducts into Valuable Resources

The global demand for sustainable and non-toxic alternatives across various industries is driving the exploration of naturally derived solutions. Hydrosols, also known as hydrolates, represent a promising yet underutilised byproduct of the extraction process of essential oils (EOs). These aqueous solutions contain a complex mixture of EO traces and water-soluble compounds and exhibit significant biological activity. To fully use these new solutions, it is necessary to understand how factors, such as distillation time and plant-to-water ratio, affect their chemical composition and biological activity. Such insights are crucial for the standardisation and quality control of hydrosols. Hydrosols have demonstrated noteworthy properties as natural antimicrobials, capable of preventing biofilm formation, and as antioxidants, mitigating oxidative stress. These characteristics position hydrosols as versatile ingredients for various applications, including biopesticides, preservatives, food additives, anti-browning agents, pharmaceutical antibiotics, cosmetic bioactives, and even anti-tumour agents in medical treatments. Understanding the underlying mechanisms of these activities is also essential for advancing their use. In this context, this review compiles and analyses the current literature on hydrosols’ chemical and biological properties, highlighting their potential applications and envisioning future research directions. These developments are consistent with a circular bio-based economy, where an industrial byproduct derived from biological sources is repurposed for new applications.

Effect of Winter Sowing and Different Fertilizer Sources on Physiological Parameters and Yield Components of Dragon’s Head (Lallemantia iberica Fisch. & C.A.Mey.)

The effects of autumn sowing and chemical, organic, and biological fertilizer sources were explored on yield components and physiological traits of dragon’s head (Lallemantia iberica Fisch. & C.A.Mey). The study was conducted as a factorial experiment based on a randomized complete block design with three replications in a field experiment in the 2017-2018 crop year. The fertilizer treatments included organic fertilizers (vermicompost, manure, and humic acid), biofertilizer (Thiobacillus mixed with sulfur), chemical fertilizer (macro NPK), and control (no fertilizer). The studied traits included seed yield per ha, harvest index, biological yield per ha, chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, carotenoid, proline, and dissolved carbohydrate. The results of the comparison of the means revealed that the winter sowing outperformed the spring sowing evidently and increased traits like seed yield per ha, biological yield per ha, and harvest index significantly. The fertilization of the plants in both sowing seasons, especially in the winter sowing, increased seed yield per ha, biological yield per ha, and harvest index so that the vermicompost-fertilized winter-sown plants produced the highest seed yield per ha (0.91 g), whereas the application of manure was related to the highest harvest index in the winter sowing (27.9%). The highest biological yield (8797 kg ha-1) was related to the treatment of Thiobacillus of the winter-sown plants. Proline content was higher in the spring sowing plants, and the control treatment in the spring sowing had the highest proline content (0.120 mg g-1). Concerning dissolved carbohydrates, the spring sowing and the unfertilized plants had the highest content (20.3 mg g-1). On the other hand, chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, and carotenoid were higher in the treatments of Thiobacillus and vermicompost, which resulted in achieving higher yields due to the increase in photosynthesis rate. According to the results, the winter sowing of the dragon’s head in the Azerbaijan region of Iran and the use of Thiobacillus and vermicompost could be recommended for obtaining plants with optimum quality parameters.

Decoding organic compounds in lava tube sulfates to understand potential biomarkers in the Martian subsurface

Exploring molecular biomarkers in lava tube speleothems offers insights into environmental dynamics, biogeochemical processes, and subsurface life, with implications for astrobiology, particularly in Martian analog environments. Despite extensive biomarker research in marine and terrestrial settings, lava tube studies are limited. This study employed molecular, isotope and mineralogical characterization to analyze sulfate speleothems from six lava tubes of Lanzarote (Canary Islands), considered analog for the Moon and Mars. The combination of mass spectrometry, thermogravimetry, and mineralogical techniques, revealed geological processes, biomarkers and their biological sources. The identified minerals were primarily calcium and sodium sulfates. Sulfur isotope analyses indicated volcanic and oceanic origins, while carbon isotope composition and pyrolysis analyses suggested influences from vegetation and microbial activity. Lipidic profiles highlighted branched and n-alkanes, as well as palmitic and stearic acid methyl esters, suggesting microbial origins. These findings contribute to understanding geological and environmental dynamics in lava tubes and recognizing potential biosignatures on Earth and other planets.

A Bibliographic Review of Diclofenac Sodium Determination with Electrochemically Modified Sensors in Different Biological, Pharmaceutical, and water Sources

Diclofenac sodium (DS) attracts the interest of researchers because it is one of the most prevalent pharmaceuticals in aqueous matrices and has the potential to harm aquatic life. However, most of the techniques used to analyze it are expensive and require a highly trained professional to perform them. On the other hand, there is the possibility of testing DS with electrochemical sensors. They are currently available for determining contaminants in different samples (tablets, blood, urine), but only a few articles analyze DS in wastewater. This is how the selection of articles for the review was organized by the type of modifier used in the working electrode. In addition, recent improvements in DS detection using electrochemical techniques in pharmaceutical formulations, biological fluids, and environmental materials were provided and discussed, along with a brief description of the results and methods used in the development publications. Keywords: diclofenac sodium, wastewater, modifier, electrochemical detection.. Resumen El diclofenaco sódico (DS) atrae el interés de los investigadores porque es uno de los productos farmacéuticos más presentes en matrices acuosas y tiene el potencial de dañar la vida acuática. Sin embargo, la mayoría de las técnicas utilizadas para analizarlo son costosas y requieren de un profesional altamente capacitado para realizarlas. Por otro lado, existe la posibilidad de probar DS con sensores electroquímicos. Actualmente están disponibles para la determinación del contaminante en diferentes muestras (tabletas, sangre, orina), pero sólo unos pocos artículos analizan el DS en aguas residuales. Es así como la selección de los artículos para la revisión se organizó por el tipo de modificador utilizado en el electrodo de trabajo. Además, se brindaron y discutieron mejoras recientes en la detección de DS mediante técnicas electroquímicas en formulaciones farmacéuticas, fluidos biológicos y materiales ambientales, junto con una breve descripción de los resultados y métodos empleados en las publicaciones de desarrollo. Palabras Clave: Diclofenaco Sódico, Aguas Residuales, Modificador, Detección Electroquímica.

Hyperdimensional computing: A fast, robust, and interpretable paradigm for biological data.

Advances in bioinformatics are primarily due to new algorithms for processing diverse biological data sources. While sophisticated alignment algorithms have been pivotal in analyzing biological sequences, deep learning has substantially transformed bioinformatics, addressing sequence, structure, and functional analyses. However, these methods are incredibly data-hungry, compute-intensive, and hard to interpret. Hyperdimensional computing (HDC) has recently emerged as an exciting alternative. The key idea is that random vectors of high dimensionality can represent concepts such as sequence identity or phylogeny. These vectors can then be combined using simple operators for learning, reasoning, or querying by exploiting the peculiar properties of high-dimensional spaces. Our work reviews and explores HDC's potential for bioinformatics, emphasizing its efficiency, interpretability, and adeptness in handling multimodal and structured data. HDC holds great potential for various omics data searching, biosignal analysis, and health applications.

Systems pharmacology-based drug discovery from Amaryllidaceae alkaloids and investigation of mechanisms of action in treatment of Alzheimer’s disease

Abstract Objectives Given the success of galanthamine in treating Alzheimer’s disease, this study aims to establish an effective method to find drugs from Amaryllidaceae alkaloids and to clarify its mechanism in treating Alzheimer’s disease. Methods The pharmacodynamic basis and mechanism of action between Amaryllidaceae alkaloids and Alzheimer’s disease were explored by constructing a compound-target-disease network, targets protein-protein interaction, gene ontology, Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway enrichment, and molecular docking verification. Key findings In total, a chemical library of 357 potential alkaloids was constructed. A total of 100 active alkaloid components were identified. Thirty-nine associated targets were yielded based on network construction, and the key targets were defined as HSP90AA1, ESR1, NOS3, PTGS2, and PPARG using protein–protein interaction network. Gene ontology items (490) and 68 Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathways were selected through the enrichment of target functions, including neuroactive ligand–receptor interaction, calcium signaling pathway, cAMP signaling pathway, Alzheimer disease, and serotonergic synapse that were related to Alzheimer’s disease. Lastly, molecular docking demonstrated good stability in combining selected alkaloids with targets. Conclusions This study explained the mechanisms of Amaryllidaceae alkaloids in preventing and treating Alzheimer’s disease and established a novel strategy to discover new drugs from biological chemical sources.

Natural Dyes: A Comprehensive Review on Medicinal Plant-based Pigments and Culinary Herbs as Flavor Enhancers

The global demand for natural dyes has surged, propelled by a growing awareness of the therapeutic properties inherent in these dyes. Derived from a variety of sources such as plants, insects, animals, and minerals, natural dyes have garnered attention as safer alternatives to synthetic colorants, many of which have been banned due to their potential to cause allergy-like symptoms or pose carcinogenic risks. Notably, plant-based pigments among natural dyes exhibit a diverse array of medicinal values. This review provides an in-depth exploration of various types of dyes, highlighting the distinctions between natural and synthetic counterparts and delvloping into their wide-ranging applications. The adverse effects associated with synthetic dyes are discussed, emphasizing the need for sustainable alternatives. The paper also offers a compilation of information on synonyms, biological sources, chemical constituents, and uses found in naturally occurring dye-yielding plants, aiming to contribute to the development of pharmaceutical and cosmeceutical formulations. This comprehensive review amalgamates the realms of natural dyes and culinary herbs, offering valuable insights into their medicinal and culinary significance.

Study of Avian Colibacillosis and Antimicrobial Resistance in Escherichia coli from Chickens (Gallus domesticus) in Maiduguri, Borno State, Nigeria

Bioethanol is a renewable, colorless, less toxic, and readily biodegradable form of fuel from biological sources; that can be used for heat, electricity, and fuel. In this research study, an alternative feedstock known as microalgae was used. Bioethanol was produced from microalgae using enzymatic hydrolysis. The microalgae was pretreated with acid and alkaline. Hydrolysis was carried out by Aspergillus niger and Saccharomyces cerevisiae was used for fermentation. The concentration of the Bioethanol produced was determined using acid Potassium Dichromate. After hydrolysis, the reducing sugar concentration was determined using Dinitrosalicylic acid (DNS) colorimetric method. Results showed that there was significant difference at p<0.05 in the yields of the reducing sugar produced between acid and alkaline pretreated samples after microbial hydrolysis. Microbial hydrolysis of alkaline pretreated samples was higher in yield. Also, the results showed that the highest bioethanol yield of 0.142ml/l was obtained after alkaline pretreated hydrolysates were fermented with Saccharomyces cerevisiae at 40°C and pH of 6.0. The highest bioethanol yield of 0.116ml/l was obtained from the acid pretreated hydrolysates at 35°C and pH of 5.5. The volatile compounds produced by alkaline pre-treated samples using Gas Chromatography Mass Spectroscopy (GCMS) shows that Ethanol and Di-n-decylsulfone were the highest volatile compounds with peak areas of 30.70% and 41.87% respectively while 2-hydroxy-1-(hydroxymethyl) ethyl ester (linolenic acid) was found to be least volatile compound with peak area of 3.34%.Tthe volatile compounds produced by acid pre-treated samples shows that 2-ethyl-2-methyltridecanol was the highest volatile compound with peak area of 23.00% while Heptacosane was found to be the least volatile compound with peak area of 1.90%. Therefore bioethanol production using alkaline pretreated samples produced a large quantity of bioethanol and may be a preferred method. This study concluded that Microalgae is a suitable substrate for bioethanol production and hydrolyzing with Aspergillus niger and optimization of fermentation conditions at pH 6.0 and 40oC yielded higher bioethanol concentration.

Technical and biological sources of unreliability of Infinium probes on Illumina methylation microarrays

The Illumina Methylation array platform has facilitated countless epigenetic studies on DNA methylation (DNAme) in health and disease, yet relatively few studies have so studied its reliability, i.e., the consistency of repeated measures. Here we investigate the reliability of both type I and type II Infinium probes. We propose a method for excluding unreliable probes based on dynamic thresholds for mean intensity (MI) and ‘unreliability’, estimated by probe-level simulation of the influence of technical noise on methylation β values using the background intensities of negative control probes. We validate our method in several datasets, including newly generated Illumina MethylationEPIC BeadChip v1.0 data from paired whole blood samples taken six weeks apart and technical replicates spanning multiple sample types. Our analysis revealed that specifically probes with low MI exhibit higher β value variability between repeated samples. MI was associated with the number of C-bases in the respective probe sequence and correlated negatively with unreliability scores. The unreliability scores were substantiated through validation in a new EPIC v1.0 (blood and cervix) and a publicly available 450k (blood) dataset, as they effectively captured the variability observed in β values between technical replicates. Finally, despite promising higher robustness, the newer version v2.0 of the MethylationEPIC BeadChip retained a substantial number of probes with poor unreliability scores. To enhance current pre-processing pipelines, we developed an R package to calculate MI and unreliability scores and provide guidance on establishing optimal dynamic score thresholds for a given dataset.

Bioactive Insecticides from Chemometric Diverse Ant-Associated Symbionts Streptomyces novaecaesareae and Streptomyces nojiriensis against the Fall Armyworm Larvae.

The Streptomyces genus has long been recognized as a prolific and valuable source of diverse secondary metabolites. These metabolites contribute significantly to the intricate chemical diversity exhibited by Streptomyces, making them an indispensable reservoir for drug discovery, agricultural applications, and industrial processes. Exploiting the potential of these natural compounds holds the promise of ushering in a new era in insect pest management, reducing reliance on synthetic chemicals and fostering ecologically sustainable solutions. This study dives into the realm of chemo diversity within isolates of Streptomyces nojiriensis and Streptomyces novaecaesareae, with a specific focus on the production of insecticidal compounds. We explored chromatographic techniques for the identification and isolation of insecticidal compounds, and two bioactive compounds were identified in extracts of S. novaecaesareae. Valinomycin was identified from hexanic extracts of strain Asp59, while naphthomycin from ethyl acetate extracts of strain Asp58. These compounds showed insecticidal activity against first instars of Spodoptera frugiperda (Asp59: LC50 = 10.82 µg/µL, LC90 = 26.25 µg/µL; Asp58: LC50 = 15.05 µg/µL, LC90 = 38.84 µg/µL). Notably, this is the first report of naphthomycin as an insecticidal compound. The present study suggests that valinomycin and naphthomycin may be a novel biological source for the control of Spodoptera frugiperda in early stages.

A review on eco‐sustainable photocatalytic degradation of pharmaceutical pollutants using biosynthesized nanoparticles

AbstractPharmaceutical substances, a pill for every ill, have become a sweet poison by remarkably boosting the global economy as well as human and animal wellness and at the same time causing environmental pollution, especially in the aquatic ecosystem, and this has led to a fatal diminution in the availability of clean water and upsurge in water insecurity. Notably, traditional techniques and materials have been employed to clean up pharmaceutical pollutants (PP) from aquatic bodies; however, they have come under controversy because they require hazardous chemicals and cannot fully mineralize stubborn PPs. Interestingly, the photocatalytic degradation approach employing eco‐benign biosynthesized nanoparticles (BNP) is an avant‐garde practice and has shown to be an eco‐sustainable method that can fully mineralize PPs into harmless molecules. Thus, this study critically explores the application of BNPs for the photocatalytic degradation of PPs. The review revealed that the greatest degradation efficacy of BNPs was greater than 80% in most cases, and that the least amount of time required was around 10 min. In addition, the oxygen‐containing functional groups found in the biological sources used for the fabrication of BNPs contributed to the supremacy of •OH and O2• radicals in the degradation operation. Also, the photocatalytic degradation kinetic data was well modeled by pseudo‐first order, and this indicates that •OH was more involved in the PPs degradation operation than O2•. Moreso, BNPs have excellent reusability potential (>5 rounds) while maintaining inherent structural integrity. Techno‐economic analysis revealed that BNPs are cost‐effective, costing about $1.5/1,000,000 mL of pharmaceutical wastewater on average.

SEMbap: Bow-free covariance search and data de-correlation.

Large-scale studies of gene expression are commonly influenced by biological and technical sources of expression variation, including batch effects, sample characteristics, and environmental impacts. Learning the causal relationships between observable variables may be challenging in the presence of unobserved confounders. Furthermore, many high-dimensional regression techniques may perform worse. In fact, controlling for unobserved confounding variables is essential, and many deconfounding methods have been suggested for application in a variety of situations. The main contribution of this article is the development of a two-stage deconfounding procedure based on Bow-free Acyclic Paths (BAP) search developed into the framework of Structural Equation Models (SEM), called SEMbap(). In the first stage, an exhaustive search of missing edges with significant covariance is performed via Shipley d-separation tests; then, in the second stage, a Constrained Gaussian Graphical Model (CGGM) is fitted or a low dimensional representation of bow-free edges structure is obtained via Graph Laplacian Principal Component Analysis (gLPCA). We compare four popular deconfounding methods to BAP search approach with applications on simulated and observed expression data. In the former, different structures of the hidden covariance matrix have been replicated. Compared to existing methods, BAP search algorithm is able to correctly identify hidden confounding whilst controlling false positive rate and achieving good fitting and perturbation metrics.

Alternatives of mesenchymal stem cell-derived exosomes as potential therapeutic platforms.

With outstanding therapeutic potential in the tissue regeneration and anti-inflammation, mesenchymal stem cell-derived exosomes (MSC-EXOs) have emerged as a prominent therapeutic in recent. However, poor production yield and reproducibility have remained as significant challenges of their practical applications. To surmount these challenges, various alternative materials with stem cell-like functions, have been recently investigated, however, there has been no comprehensive analysis in these alternatives so far. Here, we discuss the recent progress of alternatives of MSC-EXOs, including exosomes and exosome-like nanovesicles from various biological sources such as plants, milk, microbes, and body fluids. Moreover, we extensively compare each alternative by summarizing their unique functions and mode of actions to suggest the expected therapeutic target and future directions for developing alternatives for MSC-EXOs.

A Review of the Determination of Diclofenac Sodium with Electrochemically Modified Sensors in Various Biological, Pharmaceutical and Water Sources

A Review of the Determination of Diclofenac Sodium with Electrochemically Modified Sensors in Various Biological, Pharmaceutical and Water Sources

A planar mounted SQUID full-tensor module for magnetoenterogram denoising detection

Magntoenterogram (MENG) is a functional imaging method with great clinical potential for non-invasive diagnosis of intestinal diseases. In measurements of MENG, the cardiac artifacts are a strong biological source of interference. Based on wire-wound SQUID gradiometers, we constructed a planar mounted full-tensor compensation module for MENG system, which can obtain cardiac artifacts while suppressing ambient noise, so as to denoise MENG signals without increasing external ECG recording channels. The cardiac artifacts are regressed out from the full-tensor compensation module outputs, which can denoise the MENG measurements. Using this module, the SNR is about 70 dB better than the raw data. At last, 36-point array MENG signals were detected successfully and the contour map of jejunal slow-wave frequency (SWF) was consistent with the jejunal area (one part of the small intestine). This method will save costs and avoid the new electromagnetic interferences introduced by ECG equipment. It will lay a good foundation for the rapid clinical application of the MENG system.

Selective solid phase extraction of folic acid from tomato as a biological source with a magnetic molecularly imprinted polymer measured by fluorescence spectroscopy

AbstractA novel magnetic molecular-imprinted polymer (MMIP) was used to selectively extract folic acid directly from real samples. Folic acid was used as template molecule, Fe3O4/SiO2-3-triethoxysilyl-propyl-acrylamide as functional monomer, azobisisobutyronitrile as initiation, ethylene glycol dimethacrylate as crosslinker agent, and acrylamide as the secondary monomer in a mixed ethanol-water solvent. The effect of different parameters on the extraction efficiency was studied, and the optimum conditions were established as follows: the concentrations of crosslinking and template were fixed at 0.05 and 0.06 g, absorption percentage was 96.5, pH was adjusted to 8, and extraction time was 8 h with a temperature of 25 °C. By examining the effect of pH, we tried to investigate the effect of the amide groups that present in MMIP and its intermolecular hydrogen interaction with folic acid. After optimising the effective parameters in polymer synthesis and adsorption rate, a magnetic imprinting dispersive solid-phase extraction method combined with fluorescence spectrophotometry at λem = 367 nm (MMIP-DSPE-FL) was constructed for sensitive determination of folic acid in tomato samples. The limit of quantification (LOQ) and limit of detection (LOD) values were 30.00 ± 0.01 μg L−1 and 10.00 ± 0.03 μg L−1, respectively, after the MMIP-DSPE preconcentration. Three tomato samples were analysed to give recoveries in the range of 80.2–81.6%, with relative standard deviation values below 0.6% (n = 3). The prepared MMIP-DSPE showed high selectivity toward folic acid, which could be used six times without changing adsorption capacity. The adsorption isotherm of the folic acid-imprinted polymer pursued the Langmuir model (RL = 0.029), and the kinetics model followed pseudo-first-order (R2 = 0.9974).

Eco-friendly Synthesis of Copper Nanoparticles: An Overview of the Epoch-making Role of Natural Resources, Applications, and Recent Developments

Abstract: Green synthesized metal nanoparticles offer a broad spectrum of applications. They also offer unmatched significance because they are eco-friendly, cost-effective, and less toxic to human beings. Copper nanoparticles, when synthesized using green protocols, exhibit enriched properties and are substantially used in the preparation of nanofluids, medicine, conductive agents, etc. In this review, we have highlighted how the side effects of synthetic compounds have paved the way to look for greener alternatives in the field of nanomedicine. Green fabrication, characterization, and activities of copper nanoparticles using different biological sources have been extensively studied and reported. The biological sources have been broadly classified into two categories, plant-based and microbial-based. Natural resources are a reservoir of flavonoids, polyphenols, saponins, etc. They act as reducing and stabilizing agents for nanoparticles. Bio-synthesized metal nanoparticles have presented themselves as anti-microbial agents, bioreductors, cytotoxic agents, bioremediators, etc. This review has described the effective utilization of natural resources for synthesizing copper nanoparticles. It also emphasizes the recent developments in this field covering the diverse applications of the same.

1947P Organoid establishment from multiple biological sources in biliopancreatic cancers

1947P Organoid establishment from multiple biological sources in biliopancreatic cancers

Linking Between Molecular and Biodiversity Data: A BiCIKL Perspective

Molecular sequencing data generation is being driven by global and regional efforts to discover, understand and monitor biodiversity. To fully explore this data in biodiversity research we need a network of connected data resources, linking sequence data with natural history collections, taxonomy and literature. The BiCIKL project (Biodiversity Community Integrated Knowledge Library, Penev et al. 2022) has set the groundwork towards creating this network of linked data and fostering FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable) practices in the biodiversity domain. Connecting biodiversity and molecular data along the biodiversity research cycle requires a foundation of well-structured and rich metadata in the molecular sequence databases. Referencing the physical specimens is important as this provides context about the source of the material that was used for generating the molecular sequence data, including information about origin and species identification. To connect biodiversity and molecular data, we developed tools and workflows for improving and standardising metadata, federated searches and validations for specimen reference in sequence data, such as the SpASe tool, which enables the discovery of links between natural history collections and sequences, and the European Nucleotide Archive Source Attribute Helper API, which facilitates the construction of specimen attributes in a structured format. This work was done in close collaboration with DiSSCo (Distributed System of Scientific Collections) and some biodiversity genomics projects (e.g. Biodiversity Genomics Europe, BGE). Furthermore, we enabled community curation of biological source annotations such as specimen references in sequence data through the PlutoF platform and the ELIXIR Contextual Data Clearinghouse (Abarenkov et al. 2021, Balavenkataraman Kadhirvelu et al. 2022) and increased bidirectional linking from sequences in the European Nucleotide Archive (ENA) to collections, taxonomy and literature services (e.g., Plazi TreatmentBank, OpenBioDiv). We also worked closely with the community to enable the structured publication of environmental DNA data, promoting and engaging in the definition of standards and developing tools to facilitate data deposition and retrieval. Overall, the project has contributed significantly to strengthen the connections between the biodiversity and genomics communities towards higher data integration and interoperability. Structured, enriched, accessible and linked sequence data will provide a strong foundation for the application of biodiversity knowledge in the response to global challenges, such as biodiversity loss, ecosystem change and food security. Beyond BiCIKL, we will continue our work as a community to promote a culture of FAIR linked molecular data, towards a fully integrated biodiversity knowledge ecosystem.