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Identifying Canadian Freshwater Fish Through DNA Barcodes

Date:
June 19, 2008
Source:
Public Library of Science
Summary:
New research by Canadian scientists brings some good news for those interested in the conservation of a number of highly endangered species of Canadian fish.
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New research by Canadian scientists, led by Nicolas Hubert at the Université Laval in Québec brings some good news for those interested in the conservation of a number of highly-endangered species of Canadian fish.

The use of DNA for automated species-level identification of earth biodiversity has recently moved from being an unreachable dream to a potential reality in the very near future. The potential of mitochondrial DNA in achieving this target has been successfully assessed for all of the Canadian freshwater fish communities and the approach bears some very exciting promise.

The Consortium for the Barcode of Life (CBOL) and the Canadian Barcoding of Life network recently assessed the potential of the Barcode region in diagnosing the entire freshwater fish communities of Canada and Alaska in the context of the fish worldwide campaign.

Hubert and colleagues sampled and barcoded 1360 individuals from 190 species belonging to 27 families and 20 orders and showed that Barcodes are effective for species-level identifications in 93% of the case.

In front of the economic importance and identification challenges associated with fishes, this represents a considerable advance for conservation practices and open new perspectives in ecology.


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Materials provided by Public Library of Science. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


Journal Reference:

  1. Hubert et al. Identifying Canadian Freshwater Fishes through DNA Barcodes. PLoS One, 2008; 3 (6): e2490 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0002490

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Public Library of Science. "Identifying Canadian Freshwater Fish Through DNA Barcodes." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 19 June 2008. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/06/080617204451.htm>.
Public Library of Science. (2008, June 19). Identifying Canadian Freshwater Fish Through DNA Barcodes. ScienceDaily. Retrieved March 29, 2024 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/06/080617204451.htm
Public Library of Science. "Identifying Canadian Freshwater Fish Through DNA Barcodes." ScienceDaily. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/06/080617204451.htm (accessed March 29, 2024).

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