Creating DNA barcodes for animals

[Guest guest]

http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5hSQ0soDXGDOckhO7-rtpbvKo1MWw

Scientists creating databank of world's animals using DNA bar codes

 

2 days ago

 

UNDATED (CP) — Imagine the fish monger at the local market scanning your

fillet of black grouper just to make sure the pricey delicacy isn't a lowly

piece of farmed catfish.

 

Or having a customs official at the airport test the fur coat you bought in

South America to see if it isn't really an endangered ocelot, while a port

inspector checks the DNA of a mussel found on a container ship to determine

if it is an invasive species.

 

They sound like futuristic dreams, but scientists say they're becoming

increasingly realistic goals through an international project with Canadian

roots that's creating a database of DNA bar codes for the world's flora and

fauna.

 

" We're basically building a table of species-specific DNA sequences that can

act as tags to be used in the identification of an unknown bio-material, "

Bob Hanner, a research scientist with the Consortium for the Barcode of

Life, said Friday from Guelph, Ont.

 

" Going through the exercise of bar-coding the world's species is hugely,

hugely important to consumers of biodiversity information. "

 

Hanner, long with about 350 bar-coding experts from around the world, will

attend the consortium's second international meeting in Taipei starting

Tuesday to discuss this rapidly expanding field of science.

 

The consortium project involves identifying a particular DNA sequence in

marine and animal life that is unique to the species. That allows scientists

to accurately identify the species and create a so-called bar code of its

DNA similar to the black and white stripes on store goods.

 

The group has so far bar-coded 300,000 specimens from more than 30,000

species since its first international meeting in 2005 when it had 30,000

specimens from 6,000 species.

 

Government agencies are also looking closely at the technology to see if it

could be applied in food safety, conservation, disease control and consumer

protection efforts.

 

In the United States, the Food and Drug Administration has been developing

bar codes for hazardous fish species to quickly identify harmful fish

following several incidents of label fraud.

 

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is also working on a global database of

DNA bar-codes for fruit flies to deal with horticultural pests, and lumber

products to identify endangered timber products.

 

" There have been cases in the United States where fish labelled as monkfish

were actually pufferfish, which are very toxic, " David Schindel, executive

secretary of the consortium, said from Taipei, explaining that the

pufferfish was detected by DNA bar codes.

 

" I can certainly see far enough into the future where I'm convinced that

government agencies are going to need these devices for their daily

operation. "

 

The three-year-old scientific study gained ground in a lab at the University

of Guelph, where zoologist Paul Hebert published a paper in 2003 proposing

that specific DNA sequences could quickly identify particular species.

 

The theory, which attracted critics who questioned its accuracy, would

dramatically speed up the process of species identification and give

researchers a more precise inventory of the globe's animal and plant life.

 

" It's going to help us understand the basic natural history of a lot of

species that are around us, " said Hanner, adding that Canada is alone in

having a national research network dedicated to developing a database for

all the flora and fauna in the country.

 

The biggest challenge facing scientists involved in the project is enlisting

international partners to add to the growing databank of bar-coded animals -

a critical element if the database is to succeed.

 

Countries might be interested in participating, but might not have the

resources to conduct the research, Hanner said.

 

" To achieve the full benefit of bar-coding, this really needs to be a global

exercise, " he said. " I need to have the Chinese bar-coding their pest

insects, so when one of these larvae show up on a pallet on its way to

Canada I can actually get an in identification. "

 

Schindel said one of the aims of the meeting will be " to reach out and make

it easier for people to attend and get involved. "

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

bar coding is a fascinating devlopment in biotechnology. however, its

validity in identifying species accurately is still questionable. there are

many ad hoc cut offs that are still being adopted to draw lines between two

individuals that may place them under the same or different species, genera

or family. the greater danger is that it will continue to collect and kill

animals for extracting DNA. non-invasive techniques that include the use of

egg shells, feathers, hair and feces have are being standardized for larger

animals. but for insects, fish, amphibians and scores of other tiney

animals, non-invasive techniques seem far from reality. in India it has been

recently proposed to solve the mystery of unknown species of frogs in the

Western Ghats using the bar coding technique. it is dangerous. frogs are

best identified by their calls. there are excellent acoustic techniques

available for this. bar coding is a short cut to dedicated field work. even

if all bar codes are available how does one compare a specimen at hand with

the database without extracting and analysing the DNA. bar coding will

continue to wound, bleed and kill hundreds of animals. animal lovers and

activists should not be mis guided by the hype that is being built around

this invasive technique. ranjit daniels, Care Earth, Chennai

 

---------- Forwarded message ----------

 

Sep 17, 2007 6:56 PM

Creating DNA barcodes for animals

aapn <aapn >

 

http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5hSQ0soDXGDOckhO7-rtpbvKo1MWw

Scientists creating databank of world's animals using DNA bar codes

 

2 days ago

 

UNDATED (CP) ?Imagine the fish monger at the local market scanning your

fillet of black grouper just to make sure the pricey delicacy isn't a lowly

piece of farmed catfish.

 

Or having a customs official at the airport test the fur coat you bought in

South America to see if it isn't really an endangered ocelot, while a port

inspector checks the DNA of a mussel found on a container ship to determine

if it is an invasive species.

 

They sound like futuristic dreams, but scientists say they're becoming

increasingly realistic goals through an international project with Canadian

roots that's creating a database of DNA bar codes for the world's flora and

fauna.

 

" We're basically building a table of species-specific DNA sequences that can

act as tags to be used in the identification of an unknown bio-material, "

Bob Hanner, a research scientist with the Consortium for the Barcode of

Life, said Friday from Guelph, Ont.

 

" Going through the exercise of bar-coding the world's species is hugely,

hugely important to consumers of biodiversity information. "

 

Hanner, long with about 350 bar-coding experts from around the world, will

attend the consortium's second international meeting in Taipei starting

Tuesday to discuss this rapidly expanding field of science.

 

The consortium project involves identifying a particular DNA sequence in

marine and animal life that is unique to the species. That allows scientists

to accurately identify the species and create a so-called bar code of its

DNA similar to the black and white stripes on store goods.

 

The group has so far bar-coded 300,000 specimens from more than 30,000

species since its first international meeting in 2005 when it had 30,000

specimens from 6,000 species.

 

Government agencies are also looking closely at the technology to see if it

could be applied in food safety, conservation, disease control and consumer

protection efforts.

 

In the United States, the Food and Drug Administration has been developing

bar codes for hazardous fish species to quickly identify harmful fish

following several incidents of label fraud.

 

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is also working on a global database of

DNA bar-codes for fruit flies to deal with horticultural pests, and lumber

products to identify endangered timber products.

 

" There have been cases in the United States where fish labelled as monkfish

were actually pufferfish, which are very toxic, " David Schindel, executive

secretary of the consortium, said from Taipei, explaining that the

pufferfish was detected by DNA bar codes.

 

" I can certainly see far enough into the future where I'm convinced that

government agencies are going to need these devices for their daily

operation. "

 

The three-year-old scientific study gained ground in a lab at the University

of Guelph, where zoologist Paul Hebert published a paper in 2003 proposing

that specific DNA sequences could quickly identify particular species.

 

The theory, which attracted critics who questioned its accuracy, would

dramatically speed up the process of species identification and give

researchers a more precise inventory of the globe's animal and plant life.

 

" It's going to help us understand the basic natural history of a lot of

species that are around us, " said Hanner, adding that Canada is alone in

having a national research network dedicated to developing a database for

all the flora and fauna in the country.

 

The biggest challenge facing scientists involved in the project is enlisting

international partners to add to the growing databank of bar-coded animals -

a critical element if the database is to succeed.

 

Countries might be interested in participating, but might not have the

resources to conduct the research, Hanner said.

 

" To achieve the full benefit of bar-coding, this really needs to be a global

exercise, " he said. " I need to have the Chinese bar-coding their pest

insects, so when one of these larvae show up on a pallet on its way to

Canada I can actually get an in identification. "

 

Schindel said one of the aims of the meeting will be " to reach out and make

it easier for people to attend and get involved. "