The 'DNA barcode' is a recent initiative aiming to provide a rapid and cost-effective protocol to identify unequivocally species in a particular taxonomic group on the basis of a short DNA fragment taken from a standardized genome portion. To date, this approach has been tested most widely in the animal kingdom where an approximately 650-pb long region belonging to the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase 1 (CO1) gene seems to have a high resolution power at the species level. The possibility of applying DNA barcoding to the identification of fungal species has been investigated. In particular, it is possible to imagine how much this type of standardized and rapid species recognition approach could improve the diagnosis of toxigenic fungi in food. Lately several nuclear DNA sequences have been widely used in order to classify taxonomical relationships in fungi but poor attention has been paid to standardization. Instead the DNA barcode introduces the important innovation of a highly standardized protocol, which is so rapid and practical as to be easily used both by researchers involved in fungi species definition studies and by non-experts for practical uses. For example, an effective fungi barcode system would have a great research and commercial value if it was applied to Fusarium, which is often the principal object of interest of plant pathologists and regulators guarding food safety. The possibility of adopting definite mitochondrial regions as fungi barcode markers, for example the CO1 gene, has been considered. Unfortunately, the presence of mobile introns in almost all fungal mitochondrial genes makes PCR and bioinformatic surveys of these markers seriously difficult. Currently, the most attractive alternative choice is represented by the nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacer (ITS), which has already been widely used as a species marker for fungi. Indeed, it has been proposed to the 'Consortium for the Barcode of Life' (CBOL) as a standard barcode for this kingdom. © 2011 Woodhead Publishing Limited All rights reserved..
DNA barcoding of toxigenic fungi: A perspective
Santamaria M.
2011-01-01
Abstract
The 'DNA barcode' is a recent initiative aiming to provide a rapid and cost-effective protocol to identify unequivocally species in a particular taxonomic group on the basis of a short DNA fragment taken from a standardized genome portion. To date, this approach has been tested most widely in the animal kingdom where an approximately 650-pb long region belonging to the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase 1 (CO1) gene seems to have a high resolution power at the species level. The possibility of applying DNA barcoding to the identification of fungal species has been investigated. In particular, it is possible to imagine how much this type of standardized and rapid species recognition approach could improve the diagnosis of toxigenic fungi in food. Lately several nuclear DNA sequences have been widely used in order to classify taxonomical relationships in fungi but poor attention has been paid to standardization. Instead the DNA barcode introduces the important innovation of a highly standardized protocol, which is so rapid and practical as to be easily used both by researchers involved in fungi species definition studies and by non-experts for practical uses. For example, an effective fungi barcode system would have a great research and commercial value if it was applied to Fusarium, which is often the principal object of interest of plant pathologists and regulators guarding food safety. The possibility of adopting definite mitochondrial regions as fungi barcode markers, for example the CO1 gene, has been considered. Unfortunately, the presence of mobile introns in almost all fungal mitochondrial genes makes PCR and bioinformatic surveys of these markers seriously difficult. Currently, the most attractive alternative choice is represented by the nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacer (ITS), which has already been widely used as a species marker for fungi. Indeed, it has been proposed to the 'Consortium for the Barcode of Life' (CBOL) as a standard barcode for this kingdom. © 2011 Woodhead Publishing Limited All rights reserved..I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
