I live in Costa Rica...this may have been reported to you before; however I am sending it along in case it is news: Costa Rican orchids help scientists make a breakthrough Special to A.M. Costa RicaThe diversity of orchid specimens from Costa Rica was a key element in the discovery of a "barcode" gene that can be used to distinguish between the majority of plant species on Earth, according to new research.The gene was identified by scientists who publish their findings in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal this month.This gene, which can be used to identify plants using a small sample, could lead to new ways of easily cataloguing different plants in species-rich areas like rainforests.It could also lead to accurate methods for identifying plant ingredients in powdered substances, such as in traditional Chinese medicines, and could help to monitor and prevent the illegal transportation of endangered plant species, said a summary of the research.The researchers, led by Dr. Vincent Savolainen, carried out two large-scale field studies: one on the exceptionally diverse species of orchids found in the tropical forests of Costa Rica and the other on the trees and shrubs of the Kruger National Park in South Africa. Savolainen and his colleagues in the United Kingdom worked alongside collaborators from the Universities of Johannesburg and Costa Rica who played a key role in this new discovery. He is a dual appointee at Imperial College London's Department of Life Sciences and the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. His team found that DNA sequences of the gene matK differ among plant species, but are nearly identical in plants of the same species. This means that the matK gene can provide scientists with an easy way of distinguishing between different plants, even closely related species that may look the same to the human eye.The researchers made this discovery by analysing the DNA from different plant species. They found that when one plant species was closely related to another, differences were usually detected in the matK DNA.Using specimens collected from Costa Rica, Savolainen and colleagues were able to use the matK gene to identify 1,600 species of orchids. In the course of this work, they discovered that what was previously assumed to be one species of orchid was actually two distinct species that live on different slopes of the mountains and have differently shaped flowers adapted for different pollinating insects.Dr. Savolainen explains that in the long run the aim is to build on the genetic information his team gathered from Costa Rica and South Africa to create a genetic database of the matK DNA of as many plant species as possible, so that samples can be compared to this database and different species accurately identified."In the future we'd like to see this idea of reading plants' genetic barcodes translated into a portable device that can be taken into any environment, which can quickly and easily analyse any plant sample's matK DNA and compare it to a vast database of information, allowing almost instantaneous identification," he said. _________________________________________________________________ Express yourself instantly with MSN Messenger! Download today it's FREE! http://messenger.msn.click-url.com/go/onm00200471ave/direct/01/ _______________________________________________ the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD) [email protected] http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com
