DNA Barcoding for Species Identification in Bamboos

DNA barcoding first came to the attention in 2003 when Paul Hebert’s research group at the University of Guelph published a paper titled ‘Biological identifications through DNA barcodes’. The basic principle behind DNA barcoding is based on the fact that small DNA sequences are capable of identifying different species as well as they are able to differentiate them. This technique deals with a nucleotide sequence pattern of small DNA fragment that is about 400-800 nucleotide base pairs (Kress et al., 2005) and are used as specific references to which further unknown samples are compared. Therefore, these short nucleotide segments serve as a standard to which DNA barcode of any unidentified or identified specimens can be matched. These DNA barcodes are more preferred to the traditional taxonomic identification which in turn is based on the morphological characters. The problem associated with the traditional taxonomic identification are the wrong identification of species due to phenotypic plasticity and genotypic variability of characters, overlooking of morphologically cryptic taxa which are common in many groups, constraints associated with morphological keys which are effective only at a particular stage of life or dependant on gender (Sreekumar et al., 2008). DNA barcoding thus provides the taxonomist, conservationists and others who need the identification of species, a cost effective and efficient tool to identify unknown or known species with morphological characters not practicable due to extensive damage or delayed expression.