$5bn project to map DNA of every animal, plant and fungus

International sequencing drive will involve reading genomes of 1.5m species

An ambitious international project to sequence the DNA of every known animal, plant and fungus in the world over the next 10 years has been launched.

Described as "the next moonshot for biology", the Earth BioGenome Project is expected to cost $4.7bn (3.6bn) and involve reading the genomes of 1.5m species.