The All Birds Barcoding Initiative (ABBI): towards a global perspective on molecular variation in birds

TUBARO, P. L.

FAPESP, San Pablo, Brasil

Simposio; International Symposium on DNA Barcoding. BIOTA-FAPESP, 3-4 Diciembre. FAPESP, Universidade de Sao Paulo. Sao Paulo, Brasil.; 2009

BIOTA-FAPESP

DNA barcodes are short sequences from a standardized part of the mitochondrial genome (648 bp of the COI gene) used for species identification. In 2005, the All Birds Barcoding Initiative was launched with the aim of obtaining the DNA barcodes from all the bird species of the World. More than 16000 barcodes from almost 3000 species have been produced so far, and we project that about 5000 species will be barcoded by 2010. The main objectives of this presentation will be a) to analyze the performance of DNA-barcodes as a reliable tool for species identification, b) to discuss the power of this tool for revealing interesting patterns of genetic variation, and c) to show the application of this information in the process of species discovery, identification of evolutionary significant units for conservation, etc. It is important to note that the comprehensive horizontal survey of COI variation generated by the project is the most densely parameterized record of sequence information of any gene, thus providing new insights about rates of molecular divergence, shifts in nucleotide composition, ocurrence of selective sweeps, processes of protein evolution and adaptation, etc. Emphasis will be put on the results comming from the Neotropical region and in the comparison with the Neartic region.