Meeting Abstract

P2.34  Jan. 5  All Bocas Barcoding Alliance, Part 1: DNA barcoding of the marine organisms of Bocas del Toro, Panama. COLLIN, R; WEIGT, L; DRISKELL, A; ROCHA, R; MIGLIETTA, M-P; THACKER, R W*; Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute; Smithsonian Inst.; Smithsonian Inst.; Universidade Federal do Paran�, Brasil; Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute; Univ. Alabama, Birmingham thacker@uab.edu

The collection, vouchering and DNA barcoding of sponges, hydroids and tunicates launched the All Bocas Barcoding Alliance’s (ABBA) effort to exhaustively barcode the fauna and flora of Bocas del Toro, Panama. The first phase of this project is focused on the marine organisms. This joint Smithsonian project between the Natural History Museum’s Laboratory of Analytical Biology (LAB) and the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute’s Bocas Research Station aims to create a database of DNA barcodes for over 90% of the macroscopic marine fauna of Bocas del Toro by 2010 and macroscopic marine flora by 2011. During 2006, experts collected and identified 100 known species of sponges, 60 tunicates and 60 hydroids with a total of 1,500 tissue samples. This accounts for a total of 66%, 84% and 90% of the species officially reported for these taxa in Bocas del Toro. A Qiagen BioSprint magnetic bead extractor was used to extract the DNA on-site and COI sequences were generated from these extractions at the LAB in Washington DC. This experience provided proof of concept for rapidly and efficiently generating high quality DNA extractions for DNA barcoding from taxa as they are identified by experts at the point of collection. Efforts are underway to obtain funding to census and barcode the marine algae and microscopic fauna.