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Why the COI barcode should be the community DNA metabarcode for the metazoa
Author(s) -
Andújar Carmelo,
Arribas Paula,
Yu Douglas W.,
Vogler Alfried P.,
Emerson Brent C.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
molecular ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.619
H-Index - 225
eISSN - 1365-294X
pISSN - 0962-1083
DOI - 10.1111/mec.14844
Subject(s) - biology , dna barcoding , biodiversity , cytochrome c oxidase subunit i , evolutionary biology , barcode , mitochondrial dna , computational biology , metagenomics , dna sequencing , gene , ecology , genetics , computer science , operating system
Metabarcoding of complex metazoan communities is increasingly being used to measure biodiversity in terrestrial, freshwater and marine ecosystems, revolutionizing our ability to observe patterns and infer processes regarding the origin and conservation of biodiversity. A fundamentally important question is which genetic marker to amplify, and although the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit I ( COI ) gene is one of the more widely used markers in metabarcoding for the Metazoa, doubts have recently been raised about its suitability. We argue that (a) the extensive coverage of reference sequence databases for COI ; (b) the variation it presents; (c) the comparative advantages for denoising protein‐coding genes; and (d) recent advances in DNA sequencing protocols argue in favour of standardizing for the use of COI for metazoan community samples. We also highlight where research efforts should focus to maximize the utility of metabarcoding.