Bioinformatics Analysis on DNA Barcode Sequences for Species Identification: A Review

Classification of organisms is the primary step in management of biodiversity, breeding, conservation and development of populations and distinguishing adulterant objects. There are many approaches in taxonomic identification, from morphological, PCR-based to sequence-based techniques. Molecular methods give more accurate results than morphological comparisons and are independent of plant stages. PCR-based methods are low-cost but their limited information gives less reproducibility and can only distinguish samples among determined groups. In contrast, in sequence-based methods each nucleotide site is considered as genetic information hence a sequence of nucleotide represents large data, which is highly specific and more stable than PCR bands. Establishment of worldwide DNA library for barcoding is essential. There were previous reviews on screenings and applications of barcodes in different taxa. In this review we discussed common bioinformatics analyses as well as some new improved techniques relying on barcoding approaches.