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Eastern Africa Regional Meeting, Nairobi, 18 October 2006
DNA Barcoding and the Consortium for the
Barcode of Life (CBOL)
Status in 2006, Ambitions for 2008
David E. Schindel, Executive SecretaryNational Museum of Natural History
Smithsonian Institution
[email protected]; http://www.barcoding.si.edu202/633-0812; fax 202/633-2938
Eastern Africa Regional Meeting, Nairobi, 18 October 2006
Structure of this meeting• Wednesday: Information transfer• Thursday morning: reflection and
discussion• Thursday afternoon:
– Compile and discuss priorities– Identify opportunities, priority projects– Agree on next steps for networks, Steering
Committees, proposal development
• Post-meeting: CBOL and BioNET will facilitate next steps
Eastern Africa Regional Meeting, Nairobi, 18 October 2006
A DNA barcode is a short gene sequence
taken from standardized portions
of the genome, used to identify species
Eastern Africa Regional Meeting, Nairobi, 18 October 2006
Reactions to Barcoding: 2004• From ecologists and other users:
“This is what we need! How soon can we get started?”
• From traditional taxonomists:“Species should be based on lots of characters, not just barcodes”
• From forward-looking taxonomists:“Using molecular data as species diagnostics isn’t
new, but standardization and broad implementation are great!”
• From barcoding practitioners:“I had my doubts at the beginning, but it really works
as a tool for identification (96% accurate in a recent mollusc paper) and it is at least as good as traditional approaches to discovering new species.”
Eastern Africa Regional Meeting, Nairobi, 18 October 2006
What DNA Barcoding is NOT• Barcoding is not DNA taxonomy; no single gene
(or character) is adequate• Barcoding does not reconstruct phylogenies;
barcode clusters are not phylogenetic trees• Barcoding is not just COI; standardizing on one
region has benefits and limits• Molecules in taxonomy is not new; but large-
scale and standardization are new,
BUT• Barcoding can help to create a 21st century
research environment for taxonomy
Eastern Africa Regional Meeting, Nairobi, 18 October 2006
• Mission: Promoting DNA barcoding as a global standard for species identification
• History of development– Recent origin, rapid growth
• Mode of operation as an international initiative– Compromise between bottom-up, democratic (slow) and
top-down, centrally-managed (nimble) organization– Distributed activity that seeks global participation– Minimal bureaucracy, highly user-driven– Focused on projects with near- and mid-term results
• Goal of this meeting: Priorities for Next Steps
Consortium for the Barcode of Life: Major Points
Eastern Africa Regional Meeting, Nairobi, 18 October 2006
Consortium for the Barcode of Life (CBOL)
• First barcoding publications in 2002• Cold Spring Harbor planning workshops in 2003• Sloan Foundation grant, launch in May 2004• Secretariat opens at Smithsonian, September 2004• First international conference February 2005• Now an international affiliation of:
– 130+ Members Org’s, 40 countries, 6 continents– Natural history museums, biodiversity organizations– Users: e.g., government agencies– Private sector biotech companies, database providers
Eastern Africa Regional Meeting, Nairobi, 18 October 2006
CBOL Structure
Member Organizations
Executive Committee
Working Groups
Scientific Advisory Board
Secretariat Office
Eastern Africa Regional Meeting, Nairobi, 18 October 2006
CBOL Member Organizations: 2006
• 130+ Member organizations, 40 countries
• 30+ Member organizations from 20 developing countries
Eastern Africa Regional Meeting, Nairobi, 18 October 2006
CBOL Member Organizations: 2008Engaging collections, researchers and users
• Expand membership to 200 organizations• Double participation in developing countries• Four regional meetings in 2006/2007 to expand
awareness, assess needs, start networks in:– Southern and eastern Africa – South America– Southern Asia
• Working with BioNET, development agencies• Second International Barcode Conference,
Singapore, June 2007
Eastern Africa Regional Meeting, Nairobi, 18 October 2006
Goals of Regional Meetings
• Raise awareness
• Explore potential applications in the region
• Assess greatest needs and opportunities in the region
• Identify highest priorities, construct national and regional action plans
• Start intra-regional networks and intercontinental partnerships
Eastern Africa Regional Meeting, Nairobi, 18 October 2006
Possible Follow-On Activities
• In-country training
• Research training fellowships
• Infrastructure improvement:– Lab equipment acquisition– Collections– Information technology
• Other forms of capacity-building identified during regional meetings
Eastern Africa Regional Meeting, Nairobi, 18 October 2006
Current and Planned Projects• Four Working Groups • FishBOL and All Birds Initiatives• International Network for Barcoding Invasive
and Pest Species (INBIPS)• Forming a Conservation Committee• Developing “Demonstrator Systems: by 2008:
– Tephritid fruit flies (agricultural pests)– Mosquitoes (disease vectors)
• African Scale Insect Barcoding Initiative (planned at Cape Town Regional Meeting)
Eastern Africa Regional Meeting, Nairobi, 18 October 2006
ABBI and FISH-BOL• Global initiatives to create reference library
• Enable users to adopt barcode ID systems
• All-species barcode database will:– Strengthen specimen/species data– Improve collections, tissue/DNA resources– Attract users to barcoding for specimen IDs
• Regional Working Groups
• Small Steering Committee and CBOL
Eastern Africa Regional Meeting, Nairobi, 18 October 2006
CBOL’s Working Groups
• Database: Designing/constructing the Barcode Section of GenBank
• DNA: Protocols for formalin-fixed and old museum specimens; advice to new labs
• Data Analysis: Beyond phenetic methods; population genetics perspective
• Plants: Identify gene region(s) for barcoding