By IANS,
Thiruvananthapuram : A state-of-the-art DNA bar coding centre for all forms of life will start functioning here from June 11, an official said Friday.
“The Western Ghats area is an area of rich biodiversity and the new centre will create a data base of organisms so as to help in future studies. To begin with, the various varieties of ginger and pepper would be bar coded,” Prakash Kumar a scientist attached to the Kerala State Council for Science, Technology and Environment (STEC) told reporters here Friday.
The new facility would be in the Tropical Botanical and Garden Research Institute and STEC campus here.
A DNA bar code is a molecular tool to identify plant and animal species, which is widely used in taxonomy research, biodiversity studies and government regulation and is like the barcode that recognises an item at a supermarket.
DNA barcodes will help scientists identify species from given samples.