Barcoding the Ocean's Species

The National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) has started writing a backup of all oceanic life on Earth.  Their National Systematics Laboratory (NSL) has started cataloging every fish they can get their hands on, extracting tissue samples and DNA for storage and identification.

Not that we can get all Jurassic park on preserved species just yet. The technology to recreate lost animals (particularly cool ones, like dinosaurs) doesn't quite "exist", and any project based on the principle won't get far in the vital fields of "funding" and "support by people who aren't crazy".  That's why the current FISH-BOL (Fish Barcodes Of Life) project has a more modest goal - extracting signature DNA barcodes from every marine species to permit identification of future samples.  But the system also stores a "voucher sample" with a complete genetic code (as well as the refined barcode), and if you can't see future applications for a clearly labeled library of every gene sequence on the planet?  Then we hope it was nice in that cave you've been living in.  Welcome to the modern world, we've got this science called "genetics" and it's advancing pretty fast.

FISH-BOL is of course part of a wider Barcode Of Life Initiative (BOLI) project, nothing less than an attempt to categorise every life form that exists.  Such a huge volume of data has vast applications in research and development, not least enabling scientists to track the evolution and speciation of animals by looking at all the variants currently in existence.  With the matching tissue samples, however, the future could turn this bold informational initiative into nothing less than Noah's Ark 2.0, complete with searchable database and alphabetical listings.

Not that every application of BOLI is so grand.  Dr Collette of the NSL comments that FISH-BOL's ability to identify larval fish is well-timed, as many leading experts in the field are retiring.  We guess the job of "professional fish baby photo examiner" doesn't attract a lot of applicants.

Posted by Luke McKinney.

Links:

FISH-BOL Marine Life Barcoding http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080418105531.htm

BOLI http://www.dnabarcodes.org/