Probing biodiversity and evolutionary processes through DNA barcoding

在过去的250年里，已经描述了170多万种真核生物。尽管付出了巨大的努力，物种识别的任务仍然很复杂。许多物种（大约90%）仍然没有被描述，正式的描述并不能保证随后的识别，因为区分近亲物种的形态学细微差别通常需要专家来解释。生命条形码计划旨在通过利用标准化基因区域的序列多样性作为序列识别的基础，彻底改变生命的发现和鉴定。尽管这种方法在一些圈子里仍有争议，但生命条形码联盟现在包括来自40个国家的120多个成员组织。对DNA条形码的兴趣的迅速增长既反映了这种方法的科学前景，也反映了对一种新的复杂的物种识别能力的需求，以遏制入侵，更好地管理农业和林业害虫，并在很大程度上推进生物学研究。大多数先前的DNA条形码研究在分类和地理范围上都是适度的。然而，由于我的实验室对DNA条形码的深入参与，我们能够执行实质性的项目。在接下来的5年里，我将指导我的NSERC发现研究，为北美和澳大利亚的35000种鳞翅目（蝴蝶和飞蛾）建立一个全面的DNA条形码库。与各大洲的分类学家和生态学家的合作将有助于这项工作的进展。通过将“工业规模”的收集能力与我们的条形码分析能力相结合，我们将取得快速进展。我们的工作将证明开发条形码库的可行性，即使是最多样化的昆虫群体。由此产生的条形码库将成为许多生物学研究的重要工具；它肯定也会通过加速物种发现来帮助分类学工作。最后，我们的工作将揭示更多关于物种年龄和起源的信息。在澳大利亚和北美这两个有着不同气候和生物地理历史的大陆上，物种多样性模式的对比有望为物种形成提供有趣的新见解。

Over the past 250 years, more than 1.7 million species of eukaryotes have been described. Despite this substantial effort, the task of species recognition remains complex. Many species (perhaps 90%) remain undescribed and formal descriptions do not ensure subsequent recognition because the morphological nuances that separate closely allied species ordinarily require a specialist for interpretation. The barcode of life initiative aims to revolutionize both the discovery and identification of life by exploiting sequence diversity in a standardized gene region as a basis for sequence recognition. Although this approach remains controversial in some circles, the Consortium for the Barcode of Life now includes more than 120 member organizations in 40 nations. The rapid growth of interest in DNA barcoding reflects both the scientific promise of this approach and the need for a newly sophisticated capacity for species recognition to curb invasives, to better manage agricultural and forestry pests and to advance biological research at large. Most prior DNA barcoding studies have been modest in taxonomic and geographic scope. However, because of my lab's deep involvements in DNA barcoding, we are able to execute substantive projects. Over the next 5 years, I will direct my NSERC Discovery research to the assembly of a comprehensive DNA barcode library for 35,000 species of Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths) that occur in North America and Australia. The progress of this work will be aided by collaborations with taxonomists and ecologists on each continent. By coupling an 'industrial-scale' collection capability with our capacity for barcode analysis, we will make rapid progress. Our work will demonstrate the feasibility of developing barcode libraries for even the most diverse insect groups. The resultant barcode library will be an important enabling tool for much biological research; it will certainly also aid taxonomic work by speeding species discovery. Finally, our work will reveal much about species ages and origins. The contrast between patterns of diversity in Australia and North America, two continents with divergent histories of climate and biogeography, promises intriguing new insights into speciation.