Researchers Identify Plant Barcode Genes

An international team of scientists have identified a pair of "barcode" genes that can distinguish the majority of plant species on Earth. Barcode genes contain DNA sequences that vary greatly among different species but not at all within them. In the future, scientists hope to develop a hand held barcode scanner, akin to a supermarket scanner, which could identify a plant species by sequencing its DNA tags and comparing it with a library of barcode sequences.

We 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, professor at the University of Toronto and member of the research team. "Based on this global analysis we recommended that matK and rbcL, two chloroplast genes, are adopted as the DNA barcode for land plants."

"Barcoding provides an efficient means by which we can discover the many undescribed species that exist on earth," Spencer explained. "This discovery is important because understanding biodiversity is crucial to long-term human existence on the planet."

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