Participants and organizers at Naresuan University DNA barcoding training workshop in July 2015
DNA barcodes are short standardized sequences of DNA used to identify and discover species. A DNA barcode approach was first proposed as a large-scale response to the taxonomic impediment – the lack of experts who can identify species using traditional methods such as external morphology – by Paul Hebert, a Canadian scientist, in 2003. Interest quickly grew and large global consortia were established to promote and manage DNA barcoding research, particularly in Europe and North America.
DNA barcoding has been slower to take off in developing countries, which are often those with high biodiversity, have few taxonomic experts, and which could probably benefit the most from the DNA barcoding approach. In particular, Southeast Asia has suffered the greatest losses of biodiversity of any tropical region over the past 50 years, but has seen little uptake in the use of DNA barcoding to monitor and manage the immense, but severely declining, biodiversity of this region. However, this situation is set to change: the University of Malaya (UM) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, has established a DNA barcoding-intensive research program and Malaysia was well-represented among presenting authors at the 6th International Barcode of Life Conference held in Guelph, Canada in August, 2015.
UM researchers are also raising awareness about DNA barcoding and providing training across the wider region. In July 2015, researchers from UM and the Biodiversity Institute of Ontario, Canada organized and facilitated a “DNA barcoding – Bioinformatics Approaches” workshop at Naresuan University, Phitsanulok, Thailand, where we introduced more than 30 faculty and students to the basic skills needed to generate and analyze DNA barcodes. A similar workshop was conducted at the Society of Conservation Biologists – Asia Section meeting in Melaka in August 2014 with participants from across the Southeast Asia region. UM also hosts interns from other Southeast Asian countries looking to develop skills in DNA barcoding. With continued habitat lost, coupled with the effects of climate change due to be felt across the region within the next decade, capacity to rapidly and efficiently record and map biodiversity is crucially needed.
For more information, please contact:
Dr. John James Wilson
Institute of Biological Sciences
Faculty of Science
University of Malaya
Email: [email protected]
Tel: +603 7967 4112
