DNA 'barcode' for tropical trees
Wednesday, November 4, 2009 - 16:07
in Biology & Nature
In foods, soil samples or customs checks, plant fragments sometimes need to be quickly identified. The use of DNA `barcodes` to itemize plant biodiversity was proposed during the 1992 Rio de Janeiro Summit. Jérôme Chave's team from the Evolution et diversité biologique laboratory has tested this method in the tropical forest where the CNRS Nouragues, French Guiana research station is located. Their study, published in PlosOne, shows that while the identification of plant species has improved considerably, some aspects of this method remain problematic, especially for tropical species.
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