Rapid biodiversity discovery in megadiverse tropical systems using Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) barcodes Darren YEO 1, Amrita Srivathsan 1, Wendy Wang 1, Maosheng Foo 2, Jayanthi Puniamoorthy 3, Wong Wing Hing 1, Rudolf Meier 1 1 Department of Biological Sciences, National University of Singapore 2 Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum, National University of Singapore 3 California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco State University Images from Animals & Plants of Singapore
What do we know about our invertebrate biodiversity? Butterflies: ~290 spp Dragonflies: ~128 spp Crabs: >350 spp Spiders: >310 spp True Flies: ? spp Beetles: ? spp Nematodes: ??? spp Mites: ??? spp spp?
Next Generation Sequencing Barcoding Direct PCR of COI gene Sample pooling with labelled primers Illumina Mi/HiSeq high throughput sequencing Cost: Sanger barcoding: USD – per specimen NGS barcoding: USD 0.50 – 0.57 per specimen
Fungus Gnats (Mycetophilidae) 1201 Specimens barcoded Ca. 215 Species/OTUs
Soldier Flies (Stratiomyidae) 418 Specimens barcoded Ca. 31 Species/OTUs
Termites (Termitoidae) 363 Specimens barcoded Ca. 41 Species/OTUs
Rapid Species Discovery Fungus Gnats specimens barcoded - ca. 215 Species/OTUs Mosquitos specimens barcoded - ca. 95 Species/OTUs Ants specimens barcoded - ca. 100 Species/OTUs Termites specimens barcoded - ca. 41 Species/OTUs Bees & Wasps specimens barcoded - ca. 84 Species/OTUs Soldier Flies specimens barcoded - ca. 31 Species/OTUs Hoverflies specimens barcoded - ca. 23 Species/OTUs Horseflies specimens barcoded - ca. 25 Species/OTUs 7167 Specimens Barcoded Ca. 614 Species/OTUs Span of half a year
Abundance & Distribution Information
Life History Stage Matching
Acknowledgements P. I. Prof. Rudolf Meier Co-authors Dr. Amrita Srivathsan, Dr. Wendy Wang, Dr. Ang Yuchen, Mr. Foo Maosheng, Ms. Jayanthi Puniamoorthy, Mr. Wong Wing Hing Other members and students of the NUS Evolution Lab Interns from Republic Polytechnic