GenBank and vouchers

[A Mitchell]

>
>        I have argued in the literature (see refs. below if you are
>interested)  that when molecular sequence data are published upon,
>they should be deposited in GenBank, voucher specimens (e. g.
>specimen remnants, preferably also with intact specimens from the
>same collection series, etc.) with the GenBank numbers should be
>deposited in a museum, and the publication should reference both.
>
<snipped>
>                                        Cheers,  Jim Whitfield



Jim has articulated an ideal for which all molecular systematists should
strive. This ideal is easily achievable if you have a series of specimens.
But what should one do with those hard-won single specimens of rare or just
plain difficult-to-acquire species?  How many museums are able and willing
to store specimens (whole insects, mammalian tissue samples, etc.) at -80
celcius?  Storage at this temperature is less of an issue for mtDNA
studies, but is critical if you are sequencing single-copy nuclear genes.
There is little incentive to deposit rare specimens used in molecular
systematic studies if the nucleic acids will subsequently be degraded or
destroyed.

An acceptable compromise may be to deposit just fragments of specimens
(e.g., wings of Lepidoptera) when these are diagnostic of species, and to
keep the remaining frozen tissue in your own lab. With destructive sampling
characteristic of molecular methods, the difficulty is in knowing in
advance what parts of the organism will prove diagnostic later on.


Andrew Mitchell


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