DNA barcodes are specific DNA sequences that can be used for convenient species identification. There are now huge projects underway to compile databases of barcodes for many thousands of species, linking in traditional museum collections, but also changing the way ecological field research is done and species protection can be policed. This is a topic I hadn't covered before, so there was a lot to catch up with in this feature, which is out in Current Biology today and freely accessible to all:
Barcoding biodiversity
Current Biology, Volume 22, Issue 3, R73-R76, 7 February 2012
doi:10.1016/j.cub.2012.01.036
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Yes, Nemo has been barcoded too! (Photo: Fourth International Barcode of Life Conference, Adelaide, Australia, Nov-Dec.2011)
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