Mushrooms and fungi come in many varieties. According to estimates there are more than 1.5 million different species, while only 0.04% have a name. Even experienced mushroom and mould experts can only identify a small fraction of the 60,000 described species. Scientists have now with the help of the Karl-Franzens University in Graz developed a 'DNA barcode' to classify mushrooms and fungi.
Comparing a short-variable part of the whole genome, provides a
simple possibility to classify the fungi and mould, on the basis of
their DNA sequence. Because this method is reminiscent of
machine-readable bar codes, one speaks of 'DNA barcoding'. Because of
the multitude of mould genomes is taken until now to find a suitable
part of the DNA as a general standard, says the university. The
researchers, by using the DNA barcodes want not only to classify fungal
species hitherto unknown, but also to detect mushrooms and fungi, which
are harmful to humans, animals or plants.
