Barcoding quarantine nematodes and their close relatives: an update on the status of the QBOL-project

BARCODING QUARANTINE NEMATODES AND THEIR CLOSE RELATIVES: AN UPDATE ON THE STATUS OF THE QBOL-PROJECT Martijn H.M. HOLTERMAN1, Jürg E. FREY1, Hans HELDER2, Paul J.W. MOOYMAN2 & Sebastion KIEWNICK1 1 Agroscope Changins-Wädenswil Schloss, CH-8820 Wädenswil, Switzerland 2 Laboratory of Nematology, Wageningen University Droevendaalsesteeg 1, NL-6708 PB Wageningen, The Netherlands Identification of plant pests, in particular quarantine species, needs to be fast and accurate to enable timely plant protection measures. In addition, a false diagnosis can cause serious financial losses for trade and producers. It is now well established that genetically based diagnosis is a reliable alternative to the classical identification procedures generally based on morphological features, which usually require expert taxonomic skills. On the other hand, genetic diagnosis through the use of so-called DNA-barcodes, stretches of DNA that contain taxon-specific information, can be performed by any skilled lab-worker. The European Union 7th framework program QBOL aims to establish DNA-barcodes for all European quarantine organisms as well as their close relatives and disseminate the results and protocols in a publicly available and curated database. To enable genetically based identification requires knowledge of the genetic variation both within and between the species of interest as well as their close relatives. Several gene regions (the COI, COII, SSU, LSU and RNA polymerase subunit II) are being evaluated for their barcoding potential. An update on the current status of the nematode part of QBOL will be provided as well as an example case of the genus Meloidogyne.