Facilities & Methods
What is DNA barcoding?
As of December 2011, a video of the DNA barcoding facility of Naturalis is shown in the LiveScience exhibit of the museum.
Facilities
Two laboratory rooms are equipped for DNA barcoding. The largest (90m2) functions as a biologic lab, the smaller room (50m2) is used for the molecular steps. In the biologic lab specimens are photographed and a tissue sample is taken for DNA extraction, if this was not done already. In the molecular room the DNA is extracted, PCR is prepared and run in a separate small room that is shared with the DNAmarkerpoint. The PCR results are checked on an agarose gel and sent to the outsourced sequencing company. The returned raw data is then processed into DNA barcodes and uploaded to BOLD. In the future more of our methods will be published on this website, for now please contact us through e-mail if you are interested in more details.
All DNA extracts are stored in a 80°C DNA bank and digitally registered, so they remain available for future work. And important aspect of DNA barcoding is that a so-called voucher specimen must be available for each barcode. When barcoding Natural History Collection material this is already guaranteed, but also all freshly collected material that is used will be placed in the NCB Naturalis collection.
The motorized Zeiss stacking stereo microscope set-up
Tuesday, January 3, 2012