iDNAbar: A rapid species identification toolbox for DNA barcoding, collection, preservation, identification and tracing

Abstract

DNA barcoding technology, which uses of one or a few DNA fragments for rapid identification of species, is a research focus on biodiversity information studies. In this paper, a data analysis toolbox, iDNABar, is designed and implemented to support species identification with all phases of the analytical flow, form specimen collection to tightly validated barcode library for any DNA fragment. The method of identification is proposed; key elements to management and sharing are also presented, including the user security, statistical functions and application interfaces. Meanwhile, the applications of the implementation are discussed to drive the species identification cloud's development. (For download: http://www.darwintree.cn/tools.htm) © 2011 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.