Unique ID for 150 Ghats butterfly species…..Swati Shinde
Pune Scientists Complete Their DNA Barcoding
Pune Scientists Complete Their DNA Barcoding
Pune: Butterflies in the Western Ghats will soon get solid individual identities as three scientists from the city have completed the DNA barcoding of 150 of the approximately 350 butterfly species here.
The project,funded by the department of biotechnology,was launched in 2007 with the aim of building a comprehensive reference library of the DNA sequences of butterflies in the Western Ghats.The data will help identify genetic variations within and between species through DNA sequencing.The DNA barcoding of all the 350-odd species may even reveal a new entrant in the Western Ghats.
Hemant Ghate,head of the zoology department at Modern College of Arts,Science and Commerce here,who initiated the project,said,This study will contribute to the DNA bar code library of butterflies from the Indian subcontinent.The reference library is being built based on the sequence of Cytochrome Oxidase I (COI) gene in over 100 different species of butterflies. Ghate said,We cannot really claim to identify each butterfly from the Western Ghats using just the DNA sequence.We have to wait till the database of all the 350-odd species is made.So far,we have managed around 150 species.
The DNA sequences of the specimens are deposited in Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLD) database and GenBanklibraries of all publiclyavailable DNA sequences.BOLD is an online workbench that aids collection,management,analysis and use of DNA sequences.BOLD barcodes all living organisms universally.
Yogesh Shouche,principal investigator,National Centre for Cell Science,who is also involved in the project,said,One of the main problems with butterflies and other insects is that it is difficult to distinguish cryptic species (difficult to detect) on the basis of morphology (external features of animals) alone.The DNA barcoding technique can help solve this problem as the DNA sequences can be compared using sophisticated softwares. The scientists said the technique needs just a small tissue piece to extract DNA.
SPOTTED & MARKED
* Launched in 2007,the project aims at building comprehensive reference library of butterflies in Western Ghats
* Data will help identify genetic variations
* Even a tiny part of a butterflys leg is enough to obtain sufficient DNA and sequence the required gene