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PMID: 15253352 Published · ppublish English Journal Article Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

The promise of a DNA taxonomy.

Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences ·Vol. 359 ·No. 1444 ·2004-04-29 ·Pages 669-79

Blaxter ML

Abstract

Not only is the number of described species a very small proportion of the estimated extant number of taxa, but it also appears that all concepts of the extent and boundaries of 'species' fail in many cases. Using conserved molecular sequences it is possible to define and diagnose molecular operational taxonomic units (MOTU) that have a similar extent to traditional 'species'. Use of a MOTU system not only allows the rapid and effective identification of most taxa, including those not encountered before, but also allows investigation of the evolution of patterns of diversity. A MOTU approach is not without problems, particularly in the area of deciding what level of molecular difference defines a biologically relevant taxon, but has many benefits. Molecular data are extremely well suited to re-analysis and meta-analysis, and data from multiple independent studies can be readily collated and investigated by using new parameters and assumptions. Previous molecular taxonomic efforts have focused narrowly. Advances in high-throughput sequencing methodologies, however, place the idea of a universal, multi-locus molecular barcoding system in the realm of the possible.

MeSH Terms
Base Sequence/genetics Classification/methods Computational Biology/methods DNA/classification Electronic Data Processing Phylogeny Species Specificity
Chemicals
DNA
Authors & Affiliations
1 authors, click to expand affiliations / ORCID
Blaxter Mark L
Institute of Cell, Animal and Population Biology, University of Edinburgh, King's Buildings, Edinburgh EH9 3JT, UK. mark.blaxter@ed.ac.uk
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Article Info
Journal
Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences
Abbr.
Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci
ISSN
0962-8436
DOI
10.1098/rstb.2003.1447
Email
mark.blaxter@ed.ac.uk
Published
2004-04-29
Pages
669-79
Language
English
Region
England
NLM ID
7503623
PMCID
PMC1693355
Subset
IM
External Links
PubMed source DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2003.1447 PMC Full Text View journal details
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