Probing biodiversity and evolutionary processes through DNA barcoding

在过去的250年里，人类描述了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(可能90%)仍然没有被描述，正式的描述不能确保随后的识别，因为将密切相关的物种分开的形态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然存在争议，但生命条形码联盟现在包括40个国家的120多个成员组织。人们对DNA条形码的兴趣迅速增长，这既反映了这种方法的科学前景，也反映了需要一种新的复杂的物种识别能力，以遏制入侵，更好地管理农业和林业有害生物，并促进整个生物学研究。大多数以前的DNA条形码研究在分类学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，为北美和澳大利亚出现的35,000种鳞翅目(蝴蝶和蛾子)组装一个全面的DNA条形码库。这项工作的进展将得到与各大洲的分类学家和生态学家的合作的帮助。通过将“工业规模”的收集能力与我们的条形码分析能力结合起来，我们将取得快速进展。我们的工作将证明为最多样化的昆虫群体开发条形码库的可行性。由此产生的条形码库将成为许多生物学研究的重要支持工具；它肯定还将通过加快物种发现来帮助分类工作。最后，我们的工作将揭示更多关于物种、年龄和起源的信息。澳大利亚和北美这两个气候和生物地理历史不同的大陆的多样性模式的对比，预示着对物种形成的有趣的新见解。

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.