The DNA barcode that can help easily and accurately classify plants worlds
Invented about five years ago as a method for identifying
animal species, the use of DNA barcoding in plants was delayed because of the
complex nature of plant genetics and disagreements over which regions to use.
The scientific team "compared the performance of the
seven leading candidate gene regions against three criteria: ease of obtaining
DNA sequences; quality of the DNA sequences; and ability to tell species apart
based on a sample of 550 species of land plants", said Spencer Barrett, a
professor at the University of Toronto and the head of the Canadian plant
barcoding group.
"Based on this global analysis we recommended that matK
and rbcL — two chloroplast genes — are adopted as the DNA barcode for land
plants."
The team hopes to apply the classification techniques in the
world's biodiversity hotspots where a shortage of botany specialists often
slows conservation efforts. Because it is DNA based, the technique can work on
very small amounts of tissue including fragments of plant material, small
seedlings and in some cases digested or processed samples. These
characteristics allow the methodology to be applied to other applications
including identifying illegal trade in endangered species, locating and identifying
invasive organisms, poisonous species and fragmentary material in forensic
investigations.
The classifications immediate benefits will be felt in
global projects such as Tree-BOL which aims to build the DNA barcode database
for all the species of trees of the world — many of which are of economic and
conservation importance.
Source:
http://www.artsci.utoronto.ca/main/dna-barcode-plants
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