Press Releases
Wales set to be the first country to produce a DNA barcode for every native flowering plant
Date:
2011-04-08Amgueddfa Cymru is heavily involved in DNA barcoding the Welsh flora. The aim of the project is to create DNA barcodes (unique sequences of DNA bases – like fingerprints) for all 1,143 flowering plants in the Welsh flora.
The work is being carried out in collaboration with the National Botanic Garden, who are leading the project, and Aberystwyth University. The Welsh National Herbarium, based at National Museum Cardiff, forms the bedrock on which the project is founded. Curator Tim Rich has personally selected and checked the voucher material to ensure specimens are correctly identified. Small samples of leaf tissue are taken, the DNA is extracted, and two genes are sequenced to provide the unique barcode. The sequences and images of the vouchers are then uploaded onto the international BOLD (Barcoding of Life) website, where they are freely available.
There are numerous applications of the barcoding, from finding out which flowers bees visit, to identifying what species are used in herbal medicines or the roots of which trees or shrubs are blocking drains.
We hope to complete the project by the end of May and publish the results in a top scientific journal.