Consortium for the Barcode of Life

A rapid, cost-effective system for species identification

David E. Schindel, Executive SecretaryNational Museum of Natural History

Smithsonian Institution

SchindelD@si.edu; http://www.barcoding.si.edu

202/633-0812; fax 202/633-2938

A DNA barcode is a short gene sequence

used to identify speciestaken from

a standard position in the genome

If a genome project is narrow and deep,

DNA barcoding is broad and shallow

DNA Barcoding and Food Quality/Safety/Traceability???

• Not all food is raised as a monoculture crop

• Not all feed comes from monoculture crops

• Not all meat is cow, pig or sheep

• Not all fish is farm-raised

• Not all species have equal market value

• Not all species are safe/legal to consume

• It’s not always easy to tell species apart

Traceability:Who are you really,

and where did you come from?

Appellations Controlées

meets

Espèces Controlées

Food-Related Applications for DNA Barcodes

• Determining species in food and feed– Cattle feed and BSE restrictions

• Verifying species of origin– Economic fraud (species substitution)– Harvesting endangered species

• Border inspection to control– invasive species – agricultural pests

Consortium for the Barcode of Life

• An international affiliation of:– Natural history museums, herbaria, zoos– Biodiversity research organizations– Government agencies, private foundations– Private sector biotech companies– 30+ Members Org’s, 20 countries, 6 continents

• First barcoding publications in 2002• Workshops in 2003• Sloan Foundation grant and launch in 2004• First international conference February 2005

CBOL Mission

To explore and develop

the potential of DNA barcoding as a practical tool for species

identification in: • taxonomic research, • biodiversity studies and conservation, and • diverse applications that use taxonomic

information in service to science and society

Barcoding Stakeholders

• Taxonomic Community– Museums, Herbaria, Zoos

• User Community– Government agencies, conservation org’s

• Service Community– GenBank database, biotech companies

• Funding Community– Private foundations, Taxonomic and User

Communities

Case Studies

• Purpose: Move barcoding projects from concept to implementation

• Format: One-pagers on purpose, scope, resources needed

• Use: Assemble partners and missing resources, attract funding

An Invitation: Tell us about your species identification problem…

Structure and Governance

• A loose international affiliation, minimal bureaucracy

• Executive Committee• Scientific Advisory Board• 5 Working Groups• Secretariate Office at Smithsonian, funded

by Alfred P. Sloan Foundation• Sharing of information, resources,

especially specimens and expertise

CBOL Working Groups

• DNA: standard protocols, instruments, recovery of compromised DNA

• Database: Public access, interoperability

• Plants: Which gene region?

• Data Analysis: sampling, resolution, reliability

• Technology Development: faster, cheaper, more portable processes

• Collect sequence profiles for all species of interest – museums and zoos take the lead

• Build a reference library of barcode sequences – GenBank partnership

• Identify unknowns by comparison with knowns

• Automate recognition of new species

Applying Barcoding

DNA Barcoding Process

• Isolate and clean DNA• PCR amplification• Sequencing reaction• Read sequence• Align sequences• Pairwise comparison among samples• Clustering based on sequence similarity• Nearest Neighbor Joining diagrams

The Mitochondrial Genome

Cyt bCyt b

D-Loop

ND5

H-strand

ND4

ND4LND3

COIII

COICOIL-strand

ND6

COI

ND2

ND1

COII

Small ribosomal RNA

Large ribosomal RNA

ATPase subunit 8

ATPase subunit 6

Mehrdad Hajibabaei THE SMART MACHINE Angela Hollis