Efectividad del gen ITS (código de barras) en la determinación de especies de la liquenobiota del Alto el Tablazo, Subachoque

Abstract

Looking to evaluate the effectiveness of the use of ITS Gene barcode as a tool in the determination of lichens species in floristic inventories, the collection of 130 individuals was carried out in a minitransect of Alto Tablazo (Cundinamarca- Colombia.). For the evaluation, a comparison of determinations was made by three methods: 1) The classical determination was made by a student, 2) The classical determination made by an expert and the determination by means of the comparison in the Bank of Genetics (GENBank) of the Gene ITS barcode. For each of the cases, the time, the precision of the determination and the costs were evaluated. The results allow us to infer that in terms of time there is a significant change with the ITS Gene barcode method, thus promoting the usefulness of this time in alternative investigations or in the teaching and preparation processes of future researchers, in the case of the precision in the determination reaffirms the certainty in front of the genus presented by the different methods but with respect to the species, there is a margin of uncertainty because the non-compendium of all the lichen sequences existing in the (GENBank), and finally, in terms of costs, there is a significant increase in the development of the determination by the ITS Gene. Based on these results, it is concluded that the effectiveness of the ITS Gene barcode for the making of floristic inventories is a very good tool that is subject to positive factors such as the reduction of time invested and precison in the determination; and negative as a significant increase in costs and lack of barcode sequences of all existing species in GENBank.