Barcoding Plants
An international team of scientists and botanists have agreed on a standardized DNA barcode to be used for easy identification of plants around the world. The goals of this agreement are to lead the formation of a global plant DNA library, which would be shared by the international community in order to allow a greater information flow of our plants around the globe.
The barcode labels on these plants are expected to perform a multitude of tasks, including tracking the illegal trade of endangered plant species, population growth, and more information. With an estimated 400,000 species of plant around the globe, Botanists decided it was time for a way to keep track of them.
Identifying plants is very important, and a barcode provides the link between the plant, and the wealth of information about that plant species. Looks alone do not let you know whether that plant is poisonous, edible, legal, illegal, endangered or anything else. That is where the barcodes come in.
Cutting down on required survey time allows the botanists more time, and in a world short of botanists, time is money.
Barcodes on plants is a great way to increase our understanding and amount of information of the plant world. Now that plants or plant parts can be sent back to a lab for testing and identification, botanists no longer need be present for identification.
Another great aspect to these new barcodes, is the pharmaceutical industry, which in recent news has been plagued by foreign medicines being tampered or faulted. The barcodes can be used to check what ingredients are in the medicine, making sure people get what they pay for.
