Consortium for the Barcode of Life A rapid, cost-effective system for species identification David E. Schindel, Executive Secretary National Museum of Natural History Smithsonian Institution 202/ ; fax 202/

A DNA barcode is a short gene sequence used to identify species taken 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 b D-Loop ND5 H-strand ND4 ND4L ND3 CO III CO I L-strand ND6 CO I ND2 ND1 CO II Small ribosomal RNA Large ribosomal RNA ATPase subunit 8 ATPase subunit 6

Mehrdad Hajibabaei THE SMART MACHINE Angela Hollis