18 Sep 2007 05:00 AM
Huge Interest In The Consortium For The Barcode Of Life
About 350 DNA barcoding experts from 46 nations will converge in Taipei amid spiralling interest from health officials, government agencies and others beginning to realize potential applications in a range of areas -- from consumer protection and food safety to disease prevention and better environmental monitoring.
Specifically, this burgeoning three-year-old scientific field could, among many other things, help get illegal fish and timber out of global markets, slow the spread of invasive pests, reduce bird-plane collisions, and uncover the hideouts of medically-important species of mosquito.
Government agencies, particularly in North America but elsewhere as well, are expanding investments in applications for the new technologies that identify and distinguish known and unknown species ever more quickly, cheaply, easily and accurately based on snippets of DNA code.
The science has grown from a single research paper in 2003 to a burgeoning global enterprise in 2007, led by the Consortium for the Barcode of Life (CBOL) with 160 member organizations from 50 countries (up from 42 member organizations from 18 countries in 2005).
In 2005, there were 33,000 records covering 12,700 species in the Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLD) at the University of Guelph, Canada. Today over 290,000 records have been banked, representing over 31,000 species, and data accumulate at an accelerating pace (see www.barcodinglife.org/views/taxbrowser_root.php).
During the 2nd International Barcode of Life Conference (Taipei, Sept. 18-20; see: www.dnabarcodes2007.org), experts will assess progress and global priorities, share latest insights and techniques among the swelling ranks of interested scientists and officials, and air views on a host of questions swirling around the new scientific field.
Says conference organizer David Schindel, Executive Secretary of the CBOL, based at the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.: "Taxonomists have documented a small portion of the world's plant and animal species over the past 300 years; DNA barcoding adds a fast, objective and repeatable approach to this enormous task that can shift the enterprise into a higher gear."
"Barcodes can document and confirm known species while uncovering lots of hidden variation, some of which may lead to the description of new species."
"Presenters at the Taipei conference will show how barcoding is expanding our knowledge of nature and is simultaneously providing tangible, specific and significant benefits to society. The good science coming out of the barcoding community is helping governments to produce wise policies and well-informed regulations."
Hot Topics Include Consumer Protection
Hot topics for the barcode researchers, policy-makers and government regulators involve consumer, agricultural, health and environmental protection.
For example, researchers will report having DNA barcoded all 689 species listed in World Economic Plants: A Standard Reference, a prelude to testing the identity and purity of plant-based medicines and herbals. Government agencies are seizing the potential of barcoding for improved regulation. In the USA alone, for example:
* The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration envisions several potential barcode data uses, such as:
--More reliable identification of catch and by-catch on commercial vessels and at the dock;
--Better understanding of the food chain through analysis of gut contents; and
--Improved fish stock assessments, based on identification of larvae as well as juveniles and adults;
* The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has been working with CBOL to generate barcodes for economically relevant and potentially hazardous fish species. CBOL has provided samples of authenticated fish specimens that are in the FDA Regulatory Fish Encyclopedia (RFE) (www.cfsan.fda.gov/~frf/rfe0.html), and barcodes have now been generated for most of these samples. An accurate barcoding method would improve species identification, which is essential in determining associated hazards, addressing economic fraud issues, and aiding in food-borne illness outbreak investigations.
"Says Dr. Schindel: "Substituted, mislabeled fish offered fraudulently in supermarkets and restaurants may be endangered species or can result in health problems ¨C toxic pufferfish sold as something else, for example, or aqua-cultured species that might contain high loads of controlled chemicals. Barcoding could help close important markets to fish illegally caught and marketed."
* The Environmental Protection Agency is testing barcoding to identify insects and other invertebrates in rivers and streams, critical indicators of environmental quality.
* The Department of Agriculture is helping develop…
Specifically, this burgeoning three-year-old scientific field could, among many other things, help get illegal fish and timber out of global markets, slow the spread of invasive pests, reduce bird-plane collisions, and uncover the hideouts of medically-important species of mosquito.
Government agencies, particularly in North America but elsewhere as well, are expanding investments in applications for the new technologies that identify and distinguish known and unknown species ever more quickly, cheaply, easily and accurately based on snippets of DNA code.
The science has grown from a single research paper in 2003 to a burgeoning global enterprise in 2007, led by the Consortium for the Barcode of Life (CBOL) with 160 member organizations from 50 countries (up from 42 member organizations from 18 countries in 2005).
In 2005, there were 33,000 records covering 12,700 species in the Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLD) at the University of Guelph, Canada. Today over 290,000 records have been banked, representing over 31,000 species, and data accumulate at an accelerating pace (see www.barcodinglife.org/views/taxbrowser_root.php).
During the 2nd International Barcode of Life Conference (Taipei, Sept. 18-20; see: www.dnabarcodes2007.org), experts will assess progress and global priorities, share latest insights and techniques among the swelling ranks of interested scientists and officials, and air views on a host of questions swirling around the new scientific field.
Says conference organizer David Schindel, Executive Secretary of the CBOL, based at the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.: "Taxonomists have documented a small portion of the world's plant and animal species over the past 300 years; DNA barcoding adds a fast, objective and repeatable approach to this enormous task that can shift the enterprise into a higher gear."
"Barcodes can document and confirm known species while uncovering lots of hidden variation, some of which may lead to the description of new species."
"Presenters at the Taipei conference will show how barcoding is expanding our knowledge of nature and is simultaneously providing tangible, specific and significant benefits to society. The good science coming out of the barcoding community is helping governments to produce wise policies and well-informed regulations."
Hot Topics Include Consumer Protection
Hot topics for the barcode researchers, policy-makers and government regulators involve consumer, agricultural, health and environmental protection.
For example, researchers will report having DNA barcoded all 689 species listed in World Economic Plants: A Standard Reference, a prelude to testing the identity and purity of plant-based medicines and herbals. Government agencies are seizing the potential of barcoding for improved regulation. In the USA alone, for example:
* The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration envisions several potential barcode data uses, such as:
--More reliable identification of catch and by-catch on commercial vessels and at the dock;
--Better understanding of the food chain through analysis of gut contents; and
--Improved fish stock assessments, based on identification of larvae as well as juveniles and adults;
* The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has been working with CBOL to generate barcodes for economically relevant and potentially hazardous fish species. CBOL has provided samples of authenticated fish specimens that are in the FDA Regulatory Fish Encyclopedia (RFE) (www.cfsan.fda.gov/~frf/rfe0.html), and barcodes have now been generated for most of these samples. An accurate barcoding method would improve species identification, which is essential in determining associated hazards, addressing economic fraud issues, and aiding in food-borne illness outbreak investigations.
"Says Dr. Schindel: "Substituted, mislabeled fish offered fraudulently in supermarkets and restaurants may be endangered species or can result in health problems ¨C toxic pufferfish sold as something else, for example, or aqua-cultured species that might contain high loads of controlled chemicals. Barcoding could help close important markets to fish illegally caught and marketed."
* The Environmental Protection Agency is testing barcoding to identify insects and other invertebrates in rivers and streams, critical indicators of environmental quality.
* The Department of Agriculture is helping develop…
