CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research
Past Seminars

Friday, 8th August, 2003 11.30am (Tas time)

CSIRO Auditorium and via videoconference to Floreat and Cleveland

Professor Paul Hebert
Zoology, University of Guelph, Canada

PROBING LIFE'S DIVERSITY THROUGH DNA BARCODES

We live on a planet populated by millions of species, most of which remain unknown. Genomic studies are enabling new insights into the relationships of these organisms and the processes important in their diversification. At a practical level, genomic analyses offer hope to those frustrated by the slow progress towards the description of life and by the difficulties in gaining identifications. Our work has established that an identification system for animal life can be based upon sequence diversity in a single mitochondrial gene. DNA barcoding systems, such as this, will soon revolutionize the business of taxonomy, enabling a prompt inventory of life. A comprehensive DNA barcoding system for the estimated 10 million species of animals can be achieved within 20 years and similar systems will subsequently be assembled for the other major compartments of life, creating a global bio-identification system.

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