The search for a universal barcode in plants has been far more tortuous, but general agreement is emerging that more than one region is needed [3] [7] (for a dissenting view; [see 8]), and that these regions will need to come from the plastid genome, where several different regions have been suggested.
Barcode needs human interaction for proper operation.
It is believed that RFID can substitute, in the not-far future, the widely used optical barcode technology due to the limitations of the latter in i) the barcode cannot read non-line-of-sight (NLOS) tag; ii) each barcode needs personal care to be read; and iii) limited information-carrying ability of the barcode.
"The chip can be located some distance from the reader, while a normal barcode needs the reader to be close to the barcode itself".
Interestingly, ndhF, which has not been suggested as a barcode due to lack of primer universality, has a higher resolving power than matK, which is one of the top candidates as a universal barcode.
The search for a universal barcode for plants has generated intense debate within the botanical community, in addition to considerable public interest.
Array design and probe sequence information of the 13K v.2 Universal Barcode has been submitted to the European Bioinformatics Institute (EBI); array information can be accessed at ArrayExpress E-MEXP-1200 E-MEXP-1200 E-MEXP-1200
We reconfirm the earlier reports that the concept of universal barcode in plants may not work in a number of genera.
Our results also suggest that the matK and rbcL, recommended as universal barcode loci for plants, may not work in all the genera of land plants.
A universal barcode system for land plants would be a valuable resource, with potential utility in fields as diverse as ecology, floristics, law enforcement and industry.
