Plants: A Different Perspective


2. Accurate identification of botanic components in foods and medicines.


3. Detection of undesirable plant material in processed foods by health inspectors.


4. Tracking of plant species (e.g. migration). 5. Locating of endangered species for habitat preservation. 6.


Detection of illegal transport/trade of species to protect them from potential harm.


7. 8. Expansion and facilitation of botanical medical research.


However, before this can be achieved, the following steps must be taken:


1. Establishment of a genetic database that can be uploaded into a portable scanner so that data can be readily available based on the analysis of a mere leaf/tissue sample. To enhance identification of known species and speed up discovery of new species, such a database must be massive and available online.


2. Establishment of a search method or algorithm to search and access DNA barcode information from an online database.


3. Establishment of a set of reference standards (which includes barcoding based solely on bp extractions from matK and rbcL genes) utilizing existing plant DNA specimens held at botanical gardens, herbariums, museums and other DNA repositories. For example, the Consortium for the Barcode of Life based at


Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. has identified over two million of the estimated ten million species of plants, animals, and fungi (many still unnamed) while the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew currently holds 23,000+ plant DNA samples. This is especially important since fresh collection efforts aimed at obtaining the DNA of every


98 endangered


Confirmation or identification of plant-insect associations.


the


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