A DNA barcode for land plants

Hollingsworth P M^*; Forrest L L; Spouge J L; Hajibabaei M; Ratnasingham S; Van Der Bank M; Chase M W; Cowan R S; Erickson D L; Fazekas A J; Graham S W; James K E; Kim K J; Kress W J; Schneider H; Van AlphenStahl J; Barrett S C H; Van Den Berg C; Bogarin D; Burgess K S; Cameron K M; Carine M; Chacon J; Clark A; Clarkson J J; Conrad F; Devey D S; Ford C S; Hedderson T A J; Hollingsworth M L; Husband B C; Kelly L J; Kesanakurti P R; Jung S K; Kim Y D; Lahaye R

Scopus

University of Wisconsin; National Institutes of Health; university of guelph; Smithsonian Institution; bpotest; 6; 2; 1; Universidad de los Andes; university of Toronto; new; 5; United States

摘要

DNA barcoding involves sequencing a standard region of DNA as a tool for species identification. However, there has been no agreement on which region(s) should be used for barcoding land plants. To provide a community recommendation on a standard plant barcode, we have compared the performance of 7 leading candidate plastid DNA regions (atpF-atpH spacer, matK gene, rbcL gene, rpoB gene, rpoC1 gene, psbK-psbI spacer, and trnH-psbA spacer). Based on assessments of recoverability, sequence quality, and levels of species discrimination, we recommend the 2-locus combination of rbcL+matK as the plant barcode. This core 2-locus barcode will provide a universal framework for the routine use of DNA sequence data to identify specimens and contribute toward the discovery of overlooked species of land plants.

关键词

matK rbcL Species identification