The Consultation was established by the Governing Body at its Firth Session by Resolution 10/2013 and it took place in San Diego, California, USA, on 7 and 8 January 2015. It was organized back-to-back with the XXIII International Plant and Animal Genome Conference and it was followed on 9 January by a series of meetings and presentations under the umbrella of the DivSeek Initiative. The Consultation was held at the Hotel Hilton San Diego Gaslamp Quarter, starting at 9:00 am. on Wednesday, 7 January 2015.