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

SchindelD@si.edu; 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