Resumen:
A technological revolution provides nations with access to unprecedented quantities of
molecular information, and this is particularly evident in the vast and yet poorly understood
realm of the microbiome. Traditionally, many developing countries in Asia, Africa, and South
America remain marginal participants in the global flow of biodata, which will eventually affect
their productivity and economies. Here, we present the Ecuadorian Microbiome Project
(EcuMP) as an integrative initiative to close the research gap in the microbiome for Ecuador.
We discuss the relevance that the study of the microbiome has for our understanding of
diversity and new forms of production and biocapital. We also evaluate the state of research in
metagenomics and the microbiome for South America, with emphasis on Ecuador as a small
but biodiverse country. In the strict sense of access, understanding, and technological innovation based on molecular data, we propose the definition of bioliteracy. As indirect estimates of
bioliteracy, we measured the number of indexed publications, BioProjects, monthly global
internet traffic to GenBank, and patent applications in Espacenet. South America has a notable
unevenness in scientific productivity related to the microbiome and metagenomics. Brazil
leads productivity, with most of the measured parameters remaining one order of magnitude
higher than other countries in the region. Participation of South American countries in the
global flow of genomic information dwarfs when compared to the US. To reduce the effects of
technological dependency and the associated lack of economic productivity, Ecuador should
address the technological gap in the study of the microbiome. Our assessment reveals the
urgency to translate the study of microbiomes into a source of technological prowess and the
basis for local biocapitals.
