PLoS ONE: The MarBOL Collection

This collection of papers presents research in the field of Marine Barcoding under the auspices of MarBOL: a joint effort of the Consortium for the Barcode of Life (CBOL) and the Census of Marine Life (CoML) to enhance our capacity to identify marine life by utilizing DNA barcoding (www.marinebarcoding.org).

DNA barcoding uses a short DNA sequence from a standardized and agreed-upon position in the genome as a molecular diagnostic for species-level identification.

The MarBOL collection highlights the large variety of applications of DNA barcodes.

First and foremost they are very useful tools to accelerate species-level analysis of biodiversity and to facilitate conservation efforts. Barcodes have been used for identification of prey in gut contents, detection of invasive species, forensics, and seafood safety. Researchers also use barcodes to delimit species boundaries, reveal cryptic species, and discover new species. Recent advances in sequencing technology allow the use of barcodes for rapid and increasingly automated biodiversity assessment by high-throughput sequencing and environmental barcoding.

Articles are presented in order of publication date and new MarBOL articles will be added to the collection as they are published.

Image Credit: Suzanne Bateson

 

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