correctness of identification in sequence studies

[B. J. Tindall]

Well, yes there are sequences in GenBank etc which are "wrongly labelled".
In the case of the prokaryotes which I am aware of it is often a case of
the organism under study being given the wrong name. Typical examples are
when someone studies the species A.b and deposits a sequence labelled as
coming from A.b, however later work then shows that the organism actually
being studied was the species C.f. - rather confusing. Unfortunately
GenBank can only publish data with which they are supplied with and if the
identification is wrong then it is not their fault because they only ever
see the sequence. Secondly if no-one tells them that the identification is
wrong then they also can't correct the entry. in addition to the known
incorrect identification there may also be ones which we haven't picked up
yet.
Brian


>Dear all,
>
>there is rumor that a percentage of 5 - 10 % of identifications of animals,
>plants, or other organisms, sequences of which are published in Gene-Bank or
>other data-basis, is inaccurate or even badly wrong. Could anyone provide me
>(1) with a reference concerning this subject or (2) provide me with
>examples? Thank you in advance.
>
>Best wishes
>
>Gerhard Haszprunar
>
>*********************************************
>Prof. Dr. Gerhard Haszprunar
>Zoologische Staatssammlung Muenchen
>Muenchhausenstr. 21
>D-81247 Muenchen, Germany
>Tel.: ++4989-8107-104, Fax: -8107-300
>e-mail: haszi at zi.biologie.uni-muenchen.de
>http://www.zsm.mwn.de/Direktor
>
>NEW JOURNAL IN SYSTEMATICS:
>Organisms, Diversity & Evolution
>http://www.urbanfischer.de/journals/ode
>*******************************************
>


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