International Barcode of Life project (iBOL)

The International Barcode of Life project (iBOL) has one overarching goal - to assemble the sequence library and the technology necessary to identify organisms rapidly and inexpensively. This goal is underpinned by the observation that sequence diversity in short, standardized gene regions (DNA barcodes) enables both the identification of known species and the discovery of new ones. By building an identification system based on digital DNA strings rather than on analogous traits, DNA barcoding promises a massive improvement in our capacity to monitor and manage biodiversity with profound societal and economic impacts. Researchers from 26 nations will be involved in a large-scale project focused on the construction of a comprehensive DNA barcode library for eukaryotic life. The first phase of this effort is envisaged as a five-year project, jointly administered by a consortium of funders and research groups, which will lead to the acquisition of DNA barcode records for 5M specimens representing 500K species. Aside from building this library of reference barcode sequences, the International Barcode of Life Project will develop new analytical technologies and expand existing bioinformatics platforms.