The Use of DNA Barcoding to Teach Students the Importance of Classifying Biodiversity
Tested Studies in Laboratory Teaching, 2018, Volume 39
Antonia Florio, Noemi Rivera, & Kathleen Nolan
Abstract
Students can develop an awareness and concern for biodiversity loss by learning to identify the organisms
around their neighborhoods or campuses. In response to this, we have implemented DNA barcoding
curriculum at St. Francis College (SFC) to identify species in New York City (NYC). Classifying species
based on morphology can prove challenging for students because they often become frustrated by species
descriptions and taxonomic keys. The use of DNA barcoding has been championed as a way to overcome
this, while also providing an inquiry-based approach for student-driven research. Using the DNA
barcoding method, students propose projects, collect samples, extract whole genomic DNA, and use PCR
to amplify the appropriate gene for their taxonomic group (plants: chloroplast genes rbcL and matk;
animals: mitochondrial COI; fungi: nuclear ITS; and bacteria: 16S rRNA). Successful PCRs (confirmed by
gel electrophoresis) can then either be sequenced in-house or sent away to a company for Sanger
sequencing. Students clean their data using any sequence editing program, and perform BLAST searches
through Genbank to identify their samples. Students can also learn how to resolve evolutionary
relationships by generating multiple sequence alignments and phylogenetic trees. This poster will
summarize how we have used DNA barcoding at SFC to introduce high school and undergraduate students
to classifying NYC biodiversity. The pros and cons of the method are presented, and a framework for
implementing the project over a semester is proposed.
Keywords: biodiversity, DNA barcoding
University of Wisconsin, Madison (2017)
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