DNA 'barcodes' for I.D.-ing plants

Honestly no idea where else to post this - there doesn't seem to be a general botany and/or plant classification forum? Anyway it is quite interesting and could revolutionize botany, horticulture and plant taxonomy. (Although this article seems to focus on cross-border issues.) We've known for a while that this was coming, but it seems to be getting closer to being able to be applied. Part of me doesn't want to see the DNA of all plants decoded though ... think of all the taxonomic reorganization we'll have to cope with! :-D

I hope this isn't a duplicate story, & hope it's ok to post a link to another site not in DG - I'm not a frequent enough visitor to know for sure.

http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2009/07/27/tech-090727-dna-barcodes-plants.html

All the best,
Shannon

I wonder if they intend to gather DNA on all plants, or just invasives and illegal ones? I can't imagine how they would gather DNA on every plant and hybrid out there.

So, when they DO gather the DNA on a plant, then what do they do with it? Is there going to be a database out there with the information? Then what happens from there? Will we be able to scan the actual plant to get the ID?

I don't know. I can't see how this could possibly work, much less be helpful.

So far they seem to be focusing on plants of a certain political and/or economic relevance - however that is deemed. At least it will narrow the field enough for it to be feasible to actually apply the technology. There are already databases existing - it's just that the audience is so limited at this point. Interesting times!

Could be very useful in theory.

One huge practical problem, though - who is going to pay for it? How many people really want to fork out a few thousand $$ just to get a plant sample identified?

Resin

Governments and universities so far, apparently. The rest of us may have to keep relying on our experience, books and friends - which fine by me. I like the deduction process of working through a botany key & photos & descriptions, to ID a plant.

I just wonder how many things will eventually be rearranged taxonomically because of this - things that were thought to be in one family owing to a certain characteristic, that once we have the DNA, are now proven to belong somewhere else. This already happens to a certain extent as our analysis progresses - but it could increase exponentially. Or, the DNA analysis for any given plant could prove that our instincts have been right all along. Either way it could have an impact on databases like PF.

What about plants that have no chloroplasts?