DNA Barcoding and Molecular Phylogeny

Classical way of practicing taxonomy is in endangered race in the era of genomics. In recent years, taxonomy became fashionable owing to the revolutionary approaches in taxonomy called DNA barcoding. It is a novel approach that has generated optimism in enhancing biodiversity assessments. In DNA barcoding, complete data can be retrieved from a single specimen regardless of life stage or morphological characters. The core idea behind DNA barcoding is the fact of the minor variation of highly conserved region of DNA during the evolution within the species. Sequences that have successfully been utilized for DNA barcoding include cytoplasmic mitochondrial DNA (cox1) and chloroplast DNA (trnL-F, matK, ndhF, atpB, and rbcL) and nuclear DNA (ITS and housekeeping genes). Now it has been used for diverse applications such as biodiversity assessment, life history and ecological studies, forensic analysis, and many more. In this chapter, we discuss the significance and utility of DNA barcoding in various fields.