2007 Annual Research Report - Florida Agricultural Experiment Station - (Page 24) DNA Bar Codes: Plant Identification for the Future A fragment of a plant recently was brought to the university of Florida plant Identification Service, and five specialists took a shot at identifying it. All five taxonomists were stumped, said uF Herbarium Keeper Norris Williams, so the plant was sent for genetic testing. “We were like a bunch of children at christmastime when we got the sequencing back,” Williams said. The mystery plant? A common water weed from South Florida in its juvenile form. The plantlets look nothing like the adults, Williams said, and without using DNA it likely would have resisted identification. The experience highlighted the value of a project the uF Herbarium is embarking on to establish a DNA bar code for Florida plants, Williams said. Such a bar code would not be as simple as a grocery scanner in a supermarket, but it would still be faster than sequencing a plant’s entire genetic code and simpler than passing a plant around in hopes that it might land in the hands of a botanist who would recognize it. Nearly 2,000 plant species in Florida already have been collected for bar coding by uF Herbarium researchers. The seemingly simple task of identifying plants can be tricky, like the experience with the South Florida water weed, which looked markedly different from its 3-foot-tall adult form. other plants must flower before they can be identified, or be collected during a particular season. Many plants cannot be identified from just a piece, a leaf or stem, for example. With DNA, any plant can be identified at any time using any portion. The value, Williams said, is manifold. police could use DNA bar coding to identify tiny pieces of plants found at crime scenes or on victims. customs officers could use it to monitor the illegal plant trade. poison control centers might use a piece of a plant to determine its toxicity. Invasive plants, sometimes difficult to identify as seedlings, could be identified, and therefore contained, more quickly. Verifiying that a food or herb being sold is accurately labeled could be done through DNA. And using bar codes could help in monitoring the earth’s biodiversity and conserving species not yet known. by some Herbarium staff with examples of the 250,000 dried plant specimens from museum collections. These specimens, carefully identified by experts, serve as the “gold standard” examples of a species that are linked to the DNA bar code data. Left to right: Kent Perkins, Collection Manager; Norris Williams, Keeper of the Herbarium; Mark Whitten, Senior Biologist; Richard Abbott, graduate student; and Kurt Neubig, graduate student. 24 | 2007 Annual Research Report
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