Journal of Undergraduate Research
Keywords
primer, numt co-amplifaction, DNA barcoding, numts
College
Life Sciences
Department
Biology
Abstract
DNA barcoding is a method of species identification based on sequencing a short mitochondrial DNA fragment of Cytochrome Oxidase I (COI). A database of over 500,000 of these COI fragments, known as “barcodes,” has been established for nearly 38,000 species and is currently being used to help rapidly assign individuals to known species and highlight potential new species. However, the ability for DNA barcoding to correctly diagnose species is limited by the presence of nuclear mitochondrial pseudogenes (numts). Numts can be co-amplified with the mitochondrial ortholog when using universal primers, which can lead to incorrect species identification and an overestimation of the number of species. Some researchers have proposed that using more specific primers may help eliminate numt co-amplification, but the efficacy of this method has not been thoroughly tested.
Recommended Citation
Moulton, Matthew and Whiting, Dr. Michael
(2013)
"Assessing the Effects of Primer Specificity on Eliminating Numt Co-amplification in DNA Barcoding,"
Journal of Undergraduate Research: Vol. 2013:
Iss.
1, Article 1083.
Available at:
https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/jur/vol2013/iss1/1083