In the recent worldwide campaign for the global biodiversity inventory via DNA barcoding, a simple and easily used measure of confidence for assigning sequences to species in DNA barcoding has not been established so far, although the likelihood ratio test and the bayesian approach had been proposed to address this issue from a statistical point of view. The TDR (Two Dimensional non-parametric ...

DNA barcoding and molecular or integrative taxonomy projects are among the most valuable sources for biobank specimens of wild organisms, thanks to – among other aspects – the high level of specimen diversity and thanks to a thorough taxonomic coverage. Specimens used to build barcoding reference libraries tend to be accompanied by deeper and higher-quality data than samples from many other sou...

DNA barcoding potentially offers scientists who are not expert taxonomists a powerful tool to support the accuracy of field studies involving taxa that are diverse and difficult to identify. The taxonomy of rays has received reasonable attention in Australia, although the fauna in remote locations such as Ningaloo Reef, Western Australia is poorly studied and the identification of some species ...

The insect orders Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, and Trichoptera (EPT) are particularly important for freshwater ecological and biomonitoring studies, but difficulties in their identification to species level impede research. DNA barcoding provides a solution to this problem by linking newly collected specimens to a reference library of authoritatively identified specimens. Here, we consider the wa...

Here we demonstrate a method for unbiased multiplexed deep sequencing of RNA and DNA libraries using a novel, efficient and adaptable barcoding strategy called Post Amplification Ligation-Mediated (PALM). PALM barcoding is performed as the very last step of library preparation, eliminating a potential barcode-induced bias and allowing the flexibility to synthesize as many barcodes as needed. We...

DNA barcoding has been proposed to be one of the most promising tools for accurate and rapid identification of taxa. However, few publications have evaluated the efficiency of DNA barcoding for the large genera of flowering plants. Dendrobium, one of the largest genera of flowering plants, contains many species that are important in horticulture, medicine and biodiversity conservation. Besides,...

DNA barcoding surveys of small insects usually extract DNA from either a complete insect or a leg. Little is known about how to optimize DNA quantity and quality from different insect parts while preserving a morphological voucher. Here, we quantify DNA yield from different body parts (antenna, hind leg, forewing, hind wing and abdomen) of the micro-moth Cameraria ohridella (Lepidoptera: Gracil...

1529 I n this issue of PLoS Biology, Hebert et al. (2004) have set out to test the resolution and performance of " DNA barcoding, " using a single mtDNA gene, cytochrome c oxidase I (COI), for a sample of North American birds. Before turning to details of this study, it is useful as context to consider the following questions: What is DNA barcoding, and what does it promise? What is new about i...

DNA barcoding is a method promising fast and accurate identification of animal species based on the sequencing of the mitochondrial c oxidase subunit (COI) gene. In this study, we explore the prospects for DNA barcoding in one particular fish group, the billfishes (suborder Xiphioidei--swordfish, marlins, spearfishes, and sailfish). We sequenced the mitochondrial COI gene from 296 individuals f...