Hi JBS memebers, Here is our son's view of field bar code
identification--he just received his Phd in plant genetics! Maybe he will
see it used some day. Kevin Kane
>From: Nolan Kane <[log in to unmask]>
>To: kevinjudy <[log in to unmask]>
>CC: Ailene Kane <[log in to unmask]>, Subject: Re: Fw:
>(JBS-L) Re: General Comments - article in Natural History
>Date: Wed, 30 Jan 2008 10:48:24 -0800
>
>Hi Mom and Dad,
>Well, I also have my doubts about DNA bar coding for plants. In animals,
>it turns out to be practical to sequence just a single, short gene, and
>that gene provides enough information do identify most species (although it
>can't always distinguish between very closely related species, and usually
>not varieties of the same species). In plants, though, the technique would
>have to rely on several different genes, because nobody has found a single
>gene that would work by itself - genes either evolve to rapidly or too
>slowly. Nevertheless, people are indeed making progress by sequencing
>multiple genes. One problem that isn't being dealt with at all by the bar
>coding people is that hybridization is very common in many plant groups.
>All the current efforts involve only chloroplast DNA sequence. Chloroplast
>DNA is easy to sequence, but it can't be used to identify hybrids, which
>could be an important limitation. For instance, Loren has found some
>populations of /Helianthus petiolaris/ that appear to be purely /H.
>petiolaris/ in their nuclear DNA, but have a chloroplast from /H. annuus/.
>These populations would be mis-identified by bar-coding using chloroplasts,
>of course. Still, the approach is interesting. For the near future, there
>is little hope of anyone using anything like a bar-code scanner - instead,
>people will have to sequence a gene or genes in a lab, and look for
>identical or highly similar sequences to find out which species it came
>from. Of course, that in itself will be a useful advance for many of the
>applications described in the article. It just won't be very useful for
>immediately identifying something in the field. However, once we have all
>of the sequence data for enough species, a device that could identify
>species in the field is at least theoretically possible - it would just be
>very expensive, cumbersome, slow and technically challenging to operate.
>Kind of like a key, only much worse. So, I wouldn't throw out those keys
>yet...
>Love,
>Nolan
>
>kevinjudy wrote:
>>Hi Botanists, you probably saw this article in Natural History--I am
>>skeptical about bar coding accurately in my lifetime!! Ailene--I forgot
>>to say many people asked about you at the Chenopodium meeting (Barbara,
>>Charlie, Matt, Arthur, Eric, Don Lacey)----- we all miss you. love kk
>>
>>--------------------------------------------------
>>From: "Kathy Bilton" <[log in to unmask]>
>>Sent: Tuesday, January 29, 2008 12:13 PM
>>To: <[log in to unmask]>
>>Subject: (JBS-L) Re: General Comments - article in Natural History
>>
>>>FYI - I see that that article happens to be online:
>>>http://www.naturalhistorymag.com/0307/0307_feature.html
>>>
>>>http://www.naturalhistorymag.com/index_archive.html
>>>
>>>Today, at about 11:28, Garret VanWart averred:
>>>:Second- The March issue of Natural History has an interesting article
>>>"Bar Coding for Botany" The jist is that in the future plants, even their
>>>fragments, will be identified by species using DNA bar coding. WOW! Does
>>>this mean no more pesky keys and field guides? No longer would just a few
>>>professionals and amateurs have the knowledge of a plant's name. A simple
>>>test in the field may be used for IDing. This leads me to inquire if we
>>>might consider having a work shop or perhaps a guest speaker at JBS this
>>>summer regarding this subject. I, for one, would like to learn more about
>>>using DNA testing. This has, of course, has been readily available for
>>>the human geome project, and now the All Birds Barcoding Initiative is
>>>under way with a goal of 10,000 known species by 2010.
>>>:I'd be interested in any thoughts you all may have, and do check out
>>>Natural History March 2007
>>>:Garry VanWart
>>>:[log in to unmask]
>>>:
>>>
>
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