Kress W John, Erickson David L
Department of Botany, Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History, Washington, DC, USA.
Methods Mol Biol. 2012;858:3-8. doi: 10.1007/978-1-61779-591-6_1.
DNA barcoding, a new method for the quick identification of any species based on extracting a DNA sequence from a tiny tissue sample of any organism, is now being applied to taxa across the tree of life. As a research tool for taxonomists, DNA barcoding assists in identification by expanding the ability to diagnose species by including all life history stages of an organism. As a biodiversity discovery tool, DNA barcoding helps to flag species that are potentially new to science. As a biological tool, DNA barcoding is being used to address fundamental ecological and evolutionary questions, such as how species in plant communities are assembled. The process of DNA barcoding entails two basic steps: (1) building the DNA barcode library of known species and (2) matching the barcode sequence of the unknown sample against the barcode library for identification. Although DNA barcoding as a methodology has been in use for less than a decade, it has grown exponentially in terms of the number of sequences generated as barcodes as well as its applications. This volume provides the latest information on generating, applying, and analyzing DNA barcodes across the Tree of Life from animals and fungi to protists, algae, and plants.
DNA条形码技术是一种基于从任何生物体的微小组织样本中提取DNA序列来快速鉴定任何物种的新方法，目前正应用于生命之树的各个分类群。作为分类学家的一种研究工具，DNA条形码技术通过纳入生物体的所有生命史阶段来扩展诊断物种的能力，从而辅助物种鉴定。作为一种生物多样性发现工具，DNA条形码技术有助于标记那些可能对科学界来说是新物种的物种。作为一种生物学工具，DNA条形码技术正被用于解决基本的生态和进化问题，例如植物群落中的物种是如何组合的。DNA条形码技术的过程包括两个基本步骤：（1）构建已知物种的DNA条形码文库；（2）将未知样本的条形码序列与条形码文库进行比对以进行鉴定。尽管DNA条形码技术作为一种方法的使用时间还不到十年，但就作为条形码生成的序列数量及其应用而言，它呈指数级增长。本书提供了有关从动物、真菌到原生生物、藻类和植物等整个生命之树中DNA条形码的生成、应用和分析的最新信息。
