Development of a DNA taxonomy system for monitoring species diversity

Diehard Tautz
Abteilung fuer Evolutionsgeneik
Institut fuer Genetik
Universitat zu Koleln
50931 Koeln
Germany

Abstract

Identification of species with molecular probes is likely to revolutionize taxonomy, at least for taxa with morphological characters that are difficult to determine otherwise. Among these are the single cell eukaryotes, such as Ciliates and Flagellates, but also many other kinds of small organisms, such as Nematodes, Rotifers, Crustaceans, mites, Annelids or Insect larvae. These organisms constitute the meiofauna in water and soil, which is of profound importance in the ecological network. Efficient ways for monitoring species identity and abundance in the meiofauna should significantly help to understand ecological processes.

We use the principles of DNA Taxonomy to develop fast assessment tools for complex mixtures of species. One approach is based on the selection of species-specific oligo-nucleotides that can be used in microarray experiments. Another approach aims at developing cheap and simple sequencing technologies. We believe that these tools will eventually allow us to do species inventories and monitoring on a routine basis and at a low cost per sample. We have started to generate a database for zoobenthos in lakes, but the same approach could also be used for applications in the marine environment.

References

Tautz D., Arctander P., Minelli A., Thomas R.H. and Vogler A.P., 2003. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 18, 70-74.

Pozhitkov A., Tautz D., 2002. An algorithm and program for finding sequence specific oligo-nucleotide probes for species identification. BMC Bioinformatics 3, 9.

Makmann M., 2000. Entwicklung und Anwendung einer 28S rDNA-Swquenzdatenbank zur Aufschlusselung der Artenvielfait limnischer meiobenthosfauna auf den Einsatz moderner Chiptechnologie. Dissertation, University of Munich