Using herbarium-derived DNAs to assemble a large-scale DNA barcode library for the vascular plants of Canada.

ABSTRACT:

Premise of the study

Constructing complete, accurate plant DNA barcode reference libraries can be logistically challenging for large-scale floras. Here we demonstrate the promise and challenges of using herbarium collections for building a DNA barcode reference library for the vascular plant flora of Canada.

Methods

Our study examined 20,816 specimens representing 5076 of 5190 vascular plant species in Canada (98%). For 98% of the specimens, at least one of the DNA barcode regions was recovered from the plastid loci rbcL and matK and from the nuclear ITS2 region. We used beta regression to quantify the effects of age, type of preservation, and taxonomic affiliation (family) on DNA sequence recovery.

Results

Specimen age and method of preservation had sig

SUBMITTER: Kuzmina ML 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5749818 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature