DNA Barcoding Invertebrate Lab Report #1 Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

DNA Barcoding Invertebrate #1 - Lab Report Example Currently two such databases exists, the Barcode of life (BOLD) and The International Nucleotide Sequence Database Collaborative which is an intiative of the three main Nucleotide databases, GenBank, EMBL and DDBJ. The fouth and final stage is to carry out an analysis where specimens are identified with the closest matching reference record in the aforementioned databases. In this lab report, we sought to perform a barcode analysis using mayfly DNA sequences in the BOLD database. The barcode sequence is mainly a short DNA sequence which has a uniform location in the genome and is used to identify species. One of the commonly used sequence in DNA barcoding is the cytochrome oxidase subunit 1 (COI). This was the sequence we used this work. The barcoding process involves identifying a universal locus which has retained enough sequence conservation throughout evolution and can be sourced from many organisms. This sequence should also be diverse so as to be competent enough to differentiate a target species to the family level. Generally regions of the chloroplast (rbcL gene) and the mitochondria (COI) meet these requirements. Various studies have been undertaken by Herbert et al (2003a, 2004b) and established this COI sequence as the sequence of choice in DNA barcoding in insects and vertebrates. Inverterbrates such as mayfly are collected whole and may b e euthanized in a kill jar by placing them in a freezer. In the lab, primers are designed to target the conserved regions flanking the rbcL or the COI