26.3.2019: Andreas TRIBSCH (Salzburg): DNA-Barcoding with plants and its application - the optimistic perspective, HS 31.11, Institut für Biologie, Bereich Pflanzenwissenschaften, Schubertstraße 51, 17.00 Uhr
For many years DNA-barcoding has promised being a tool for correct species identification in future even of tiny tissue samples. While biosystematics in zoology got boosted with DNA-barcoding methodology, barcoding of plants is much less widespread. One of the reasons is that plastid DNA used in plants has a much lower mutation rate than mitochondrial DNA used in animal research. However, several other aspects related to the biology of plants hamper significant progress. Frequent hybridization, slow speciation, polyploidization but also other breeding systems and population structures turned out as problematic. I will discuss recent developments in the barcoding discussion, give some examples where barcoding gave already and will give progress in research and outline future perspectives like the metabarcoding technology. Moreover I will present the aims of the ABOL (Austrian Barcode of Life) initiative, discuss why different plant groups (e.g., ferns and mosses) should not be neglected and outline research perspectives using reference barcode libraries.