Date of Award

2013

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Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS) in Biology

Department

Biology

Abstract

"DNA barcoding involves sequencing a standard region of DNA to be used as a tool for rapid species identification. The cytochrome C oxidase gene (COXI) is widely accepted as the standard barcode for animals and currently there is no barcode for land plants. The Consortium for the Barcode of Life (CBOL) has proposed two regions of DNA to be used as a dual-locus barcode. In this study I examine the two proposed barcoding regions, ribulose-1 ,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (rbcL) and maturase K (matK) for their ease of amplification, discrimatory power, and sequence quality in Jatropha curcas, Jatropha podagrica, Latuca sativa, and Arabidopsis thaliana. I found that the rbcL gene in J. cureas and the 3' end of L. sativa met the three criteria for DNA barcoding. The matK gene was unamplifiable in all plants used in this study. The rbcL gene is a good candidate for use as a DNA barcode based on its discriminatory power and sequence quality while more efforts are needed to find an alternative to the matK gene"--Document.

Comments

Typescript. Vita.

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