High Identification Efficiency Research Articles

Molecular diversity of freshwater fishes of Bangladesh assessed by DNA barcoding

This study represents the comprehensive molecular identification of freshwater fishes of Bangladesh based on a fragment of the cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) gene in the mitochondrial genome. A total of 315 mitochondrial COI barcode sequences were obtained from 153 species,114 genera, 49 families and 16 orders of fishes. The mean length of the sequences was 652 base pairs. For all the samples, %G was significantly lower compared to the other nucleotides and %GC was lower compared to %AT (p-value ˂ 0.05). Also, a significantly lower %GC content was observed in second and third codon position compared to the first one in all the samples (1st>2nd>3rd, p-value˂ 0.05). The average K2P distances within species, genera, families and orders were 0.38%, 7.02%, 12.75% and 18.68%, respectively. The mean interspecific distance was 18-fold higher than the mean intraspecific distance. The K2P neighbor-joining (NJ) trees based on the sequences generally clustered species according to their taxonomic position. A total of 12 species were newly recorded in Bangladesh. High efficiency in species identification were demonstrated in the present study by DNA barcoding, and concluded that COI sequencing can be used as an authentic identification marker for freshwater fish species.
 Bangladesh J. Zool. 48(1): 1-19, 2020

The Method of Identifying the Species of Coniferous Wood Based on GLCM

Zhao, L. and Wang, J., 2020. The method of identifying the species of coniferous wood based on GLCM. In: Yang, Y.; Mi, C.; Zhao, L., and Lam, S. (eds.), Global Topics and New Trends in Coastal Research: Port, Coastal and Ocean Engineering. Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 103, pp. 570–574. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208.Accurate and efficient identification of sheet materials has an important role in the industrialization of sheet metal. This research put a route for identifying plate species based on a GLCM, and selects parameters such as energy, entropy, uniformity, contrast, and correlation of the plate texture image. Based on the principle of maximum similarity, a texture-based material species determination method is established. The minimum difference method and comprehensive threshold method are used for identification analysis, and the contribution rate of each parameter is considered to be the same. The research data show that the route of this paper has higher identification efficiency and accuracy for the species of softwood sheet material, and the identification algorithm has better performance and good robustness.

Divergent domains of 28S ribosomal RNA gene: DNA barcodes for molecular classification and identification of mites

BackgroundThe morphological and molecular identification of mites is challenging due to the large number of species, the microscopic size of the organisms, diverse phenotypes of the same species, similar morphology of different species and a shortage of molecular data.MethodsNine medically important mite species belonging to six families, i.e. Demodex folliculorum, D. brevis, D. canis, D. caprae, Sarcoptes scabiei canis, Psoroptes cuniculi, Dermatophagoides farinae, Cheyletus malaccensis and Ornithonyssus bacoti, were collected and subjected to DNA barcoding. Sequences of cox1, 16S and 12S mtDNA, as well as ITS, 18S and 28S rDNA from mites were retrieved from GenBank and used as candidate genes. Sequence alignment and analysis identified 28S rDNA as the suitable target gene. Subsequently, universal primers of divergent domains were designed for molecular identification of 125 mite samples. Finally, the universality of the divergent domains with high identification efficiency was evaluated in Acari to screen DNA barcodes for mites.ResultsDomains D5 (67.65%), D6 (62.71%) and D8 (77.59%) of the 28S rRNA gene had a significantly higher sequencing success rate, compared to domains D2 (19.20%), D3 (20.00%) and D7 (15.12%). The successful divergent domains all matched the closely-related species in GenBank with an identity of 74–100% and a coverage rate of 92–100%. Phylogenetic analysis also supported this result. Moreover, the three divergent domains had their own advantages. D5 had the lowest intraspecies divergence (0–1.26%), D6 had the maximum barcoding gap (10.54%) and the shortest sequence length (192–241 bp), and D8 had the longest indels (241 bp). Further universality analysis showed that the primers of the three divergent domains were suitable for identification across 225 species of 40 families in Acari.ConclusionsThis study confirmed that domains D5, D6 and D8 of 28S rDNA are universal DNA barcodes for molecular classification and identification of mites. 28S rDNA, as a powerful supplement for cox1 mtDNA 5’-end 648-bp fragment, recommended by the International Barcode of Life (IBOL), will provide great potential in molecular identification of mites in future studies because of its universality.

Comparison of regularization methods for moving force identification with ill-posed problems

Four new methods have been developed to overcome the ill-posed problems inherently existing in moving force identification (MFI) in previous studies. This paper is an extension of the work to evaluate the overall performance of these presented methods by numerical simulations and experiment verifications in laboratory. A simply-supported bridge and two types of moving forces are adopted to evaluate the identification accuracy and ill-posed immunity of these new approaches. Bending moment and acceleration responses are measured when the time-varying forces moving across the bridge deck at constant speed. Numerical simulations of both uniaxial and biaxial forces include 12 cases, which are used to compare the identification accuracy and ill-posed immunity of these methods in detail. Finally, a hinge supported steel beam model and a vehicle model were designed and fabricated in laboratory. Then a series of experimental studies on MFI with these four methods are performed in laboratory. Both numerical and experimental results show that these four approaches can accurately identify moving forces with strong robustness and ill-posed immunity. Moreover, the truncated generalized singular value decomposition (TGSVD) method has higher identification accuracy than the piecewise polynomial truncated singular value decomposition (PP-TSVD) method, and the modified preconditioned conjugate gradient (M-PCG) method has higher identification efficiency than the preconditioned least square QR-factorization (PLSQR) method. To summarize, if the first goal in MFI is to improve the identification accuracy, the TGSVD method is recommended due to its high identification accuracy and stability in different cases. If the first goal in MFI is to improve the identification efficiency, the M-PCG method is recommended due to its high identification efficiency and easy to determine the optimal number of iterations.

Pharmacophore-Based Virtual Screening Toward the Discovery of Novel Anti-echinococcal Compounds.

Echinococcosis is a serious helminthic zoonosis with a great impact on human health and livestock husbandry. However, the clinically used drugs (benzimidazoles) have a low cure rate, so alternative drugs are urgently needed. Currently, drug screenings for echinococcosis are mainly phenotype-based, and the efficiency of identifying active compounds is very low. With a pharmacophore model generated from the structures of active amino alcohols, we performed a virtual screening to discover novel compounds with anti-echinococcal activity. Sixty-two compounds from the virtual screening were tested on Echinococcus multilocularis protoscoleces, and 10 of these compounds were found to be active. After further evaluation of their cytotoxicity, S6 was selected along with two active amino alcohols for in vivo pharmacodynamic and pharmacokinetic studies. At the two tested doses (50 and 25 mg/kg), S6 inhibited the growth of E. multilocularis in mice (14.43 and 9.53%), but no significant difference between the treatment groups and control group was observed. Treatment with BTB4 and HT3 was shown to be ineffective. During the 28 days of treatment, the death of mice in the mebendazole, HT3, and BTB4 groups indicated their toxicity. The plasma concentration of S6 administered by both methods was very low, with the Cmax being only 1 ng/ml after oral administration and below the detection limit after intramuscular administration. In addition, the plasma concentrations of BTB4 and HT3 in vitro did not reach high enough levels to kill the parasites. The toxicities of these two amino alcohols indicated that they are not suitable for further development as anti-echinococcal drugs. However, further attempts should be made to increase the bioavailability of S6 and modify its structure. In this study, we demonstrate that pharmacophore-based virtual screenings with high drug identification efficiency could be used to find novel drugs for treating echinococcosis.

Retracted: Verification of single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers associated with maize (Zea mays. L) streak virus resistance in early generation maize lines

Maize streak virus (MSV) is a devastating viral disease of maize in sub-Saharan Africa. The disease may cause up to 100% yield loss in susceptible crops. The use of molecular markers can facilitate the development of varieties resistant to the virus. The objective of this study is to assess the usefulness of Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP) markers linked to MSV resistance in selecting for resistance at early generations of inbred line development in maize. A total of 160 maize lines were genotyped with three SNP markers that are linked to MSV resistance. These lines were tested for their reaction to MSV through artificial inoculation using viruliferous Cicadulina triangular at the three leaf stage; maize streak virus symptom was scored from 7 days after inoculation for six weeks at weekly interval on a scale of 1 to 5. MSV titer on the upper and lower leaves was determined using Direct Antigen Coating Enzyme linked Immunosorbent Assay (DAC-ELISA). One hundred and forty-two (142) of the 160 maize lines had the favourable marker allele for MSV resistance while 18 maize lines did not have the allele. Differences among the 160 maize lines for MSV symptom on upper leaves at six week after inoculation were significant (P< 0.01). Favourable allele of the SNP markers was significantly associated with MSV symptom score at 6 week after inoculation and MSV titer status. The percentage of maize lines with desirable marker allele with resistance based on symptoms score and ELISA were 97.9 and 93%, respectively. The three SNP markers showed high efficiency in the identification of MSV resistant maize lines and therefore have potential for use in marker-assisted selection. The SNP markers were not effective in detecting MSV resistance in few genotypes, indicating a need to develop other markers for resistance. Key words: ELISA, genotyping, inoculation, maize streak virus, SNPs. See: Notice of Retraction

Moving correlation coefficient-based method for the identification of periodicities in hydrologic time series

Accurate identification of periodicities is an important issue for understanding the hydrological variability, medium- to long-term hydrologic simulation and forecasting, as well as water security assessment. Many methods have been developed presently for handling the issue, including the simple partial wave method (SPWM), harmonic analysis method (HAM), power spectrum method (PSM) and maximum entropy spectral analysis (MESA). However, the results of periodic identification are not good as expected due to the complexity of hydrological variability and defects of methods. In this article, a new moving correlation coefficient-based method is proposed for the identification of periodicities in hydrological time series. The specific steps of periodicity identification by the proposed methods is described as follows: (1) Generate a simulated periodic series by using the sinusoidal function; (2) use the correlation coefficient as an index to evaluate the fitting accuracy between the simulated periodic series and the original series, which generally includes the periodic components and stochastic components; (3) change the periodic value and the initial phase of the sinusoidal function, and repeat the above steps to calculate the correlation coefficient values; and (4) find the maximum magnitude of the correlation coefficient, and its corresponding simulated periodic series is regarded as the expected periodic component, and its significance is evaluated by doing hypothesis test. Theoretical analysis and formula derivation demonstrate that the index of correlation coefficient can reflect the significant degree of periodic variability of the original hydrological time series. Bigger correlation coefficient value corresponds to more significant periodic variability. Results of Monte-Carlo experiments confirm the advantages of the proposed method compared with other conventional methods such as HAM, PSM and MESA. The former has high identification efficiency and can keep its stability, even if encountering the influences of some advance factors, including the sample length, mean value, coefficient of variation, the semi amplitude, period length and initial phase. By applying the proposed method to analyze the annual precipitation series at 21 meteorological stations in the Lancang River Basin, results indicate that the annual precipitation presents periodic variations at multi-time scales; comparatively, annual precipitation series in the northern and central parts of the basin mainly presents a 2- to 5-year periodic variability, versus the 5- to 10-year periodic variability in the south part.

Forensic parameters and mutation analysis of 23 short tandem repeat (PowerPlex® Fusion System) loci in Fujian Han Chinese population.

Kinship testing based on genetic markers has valuable practical applications. Short tandem repeat polymorphisms (STRPs) can have large number of alleles, and become the dominant marker for kinship identification. However, the high mutation rates affect the identification accuracy. Thus, accurate investigation of the mutation rate of STR loci in different populations is crucial for the reliability of phylogenetic relationships. In present study, forensic parameters and mutation rates (include 95% CI) of 23 short tandem repeats (STR) loci (D3S1358, D1S1656, D2S441, D10S1248, D13S317, D16S539, D18S51, D2S1338, CSF1PO, TH01, vWA, D21S11, D7S820, D5S818, TPOX, D8S1179, D12S391, D19S433, FGA, D22S1045, PentaE, PentaD and DYS391) were investigated through PowerPlex® Fusion System in Fujian Han population. The high level of CDP (0.999999999999999999999999992) and CPE (0.999999993) indicated the panel was high efficiency in forensic DNA identification and paternity testing. In mutation analysis, 43 mutation cases were found through 54,124 parent-child meiotic transfers. The observed mutation rates ranged from 0 (D3S1358, D1S1656, D13S317, TH01, D19S433 and D22S1045) to 0.0025 (PentaE and FGA). The overall mutation rate across all loci was 0.0008 and the average mutation rate for the 23 loci was estimated to be 0.00078 per meiosis. The vast majority of mutations were single-step (88.4%) mutation and also include double-step (9.3%) and triple-step (2.3%) mutations. Paternal mutation rate was more common than maternal mutation rate with a ratio of 7.2:1. In addition, mutation rates indicated positive correlation (r = 0.633, p = 0.009) with the expected heterozygosity (He).

A Collision Resolution Algorithm for RFID Using Modified Dynamic Tree With Bayesian Tag Estimation

A new tree-based anti-collision protocol for radio-frequency identification systems is proposed to achieve a very high tag identification efficiency. The proposed algorithm works in two phases. In the first phase, the number of competing tags is estimated through the proposed Bayesian estimation technique, while in the second phase, tags are identified using our modified dynamic tree algorithm. The system efficiency is mathematically derived and verified through simulation. Numerical results show that the proposed algorithm achieves a tag identification system efficiency of 45% and a time system efficiency of 78.5%, thus outperforming any existing collision resolution algorithms.

The value of whole tumors volume based T2 histogram analysis for differential diagnosis in pediatric posterior fossa tumors

Objective To study the value of whole tumors T2WI gray histogram analysis for differential diagnosis of three commonly presented pediatric posterior fossa tumors. Methods A retrospective analysis was conducted to compare brain MRI examination and pathology diagnosis of 133 cases of posterior fossa tumors in pediatric patients in our hospital. Among them, there were 49 cases of ependymoma(there were 25 males and 24 females), 36 cases of astrocytoma(WHO grade Ⅰ)(there were 19 males and 17 females), 48 cases of medulloblastoma(there were 36 males and 12 females), aged 1 to 14 years old, with an average (7±2) years old. Respectively draw the region of interest (ROI) in the T2 MR transaxial images of three groups on each layer of tumor level by using Mazda software and analyze the whole tumors gray histogram, including mean,variance, kurtosis,skewness, perc.01%, perc.10%,perc.50%,perc.90% and perc.99%.The histogram parameters of the three groups were not normally distributed. The Kruskal-Wallis test was used to compare the three groups. Bonferroni test was used to compare the two groups to find out statistical significance of each parameter. Results Through histogram analysis of 9 parameters, these 9 parameters were statistically significant (all P <0.05),including mean,variance, kurtosis,skewness, perc.01%, perc.10%,perc.50%,perc.90% and perc.99%. The sensitivity of skewness to differentiate ependymoma and the astrocytoma was 69.4%, the specificity was 77.8%, the area under the curve was 0.744, and the best cut-off value was -0.08. The sensitivity of kurtosis to differentiate astrocytoma and the medulloblastoma was 95.8%, the specificity was 97.2% and the area under the curve was 0.972, the cut-off was 1.68. The sensitivity of kurtosis to differentiate ependymoma and the medulloblastoma was 91.7%, the specificity was 89.8% and the area under the curve was 0.932,the cut-off was 1.90.They had a high identification efficiency. Conclusions The T2WI gray histogram analysis based whole tumors is helpful for the dignosis of three types of pediatric posterior fossa tumors. Skewness has a high diagnostic efficiency to differentiate ependymoma and the astrocytoma. Kurtosis has a high diagnostic efficiency to differentiate ependymoma and the medulloblastoma. Kurtosis has a high diagnostic efficiency to differentiate ependymoma and medulloblastoma. Key words: Magnetic resonance imaging; Child; Cranial fossa, posterior; Diagnosis, differential

Electrokinetic transport properties of deoxynucleotide monophosphates (dNMPs) through thermoplastic nanochannels

The electrokinetic behavior of molecules in nanochannels (<100 nm in length) have generated interest due to the unique transport properties observed that are not seen in microscale channels. These nanoscale dependent transport properties include transverse electromigration arising from partial electrical double layer overlap, enhanced solute/wall interactions due to the small channel diameter, and field-dependent intermittent motion produced by surface roughness. In this study, the electrokinetic transport properties of deoxynucleotide monophosphates (dNMPs) were investigated, including the effects of electric field strength, surface effects, and composition of the carrier electrolyte (ionic concentration and pH). The dNMPs were labeled with a fluorescent reporter (ATTO 532) to allow tracking of the electrokinetic transport of the dNMPs through a thermoplastic nanochannel fabricated via nanoimprinting (110 nm × 110 nm, width × depth, and 100 μm in length). We discovered that the transport properties in plastic nanochannels of the dye-labeled dNMPs produced differences in their apparent mobilities that were not seen using microscale columns. We built histograms for each dNMP from their apparent mobilities under different operating conditions and fit the histograms to Gaussian functions from which the separation resolution could be deduced as a metric to gage the ability to identify the molecule based on their apparent mobility. We found that the resolution ranged from 0.73 to 2.13 at pH = 8.3. Changing the carrier electrolyte pH > 10 significantly improved separation resolution (0.80–4.84) and reduced the standard deviation in the Gaussian fit to the apparent mobilities. At low buffer concentrations, decreases in separation resolution and increased standard deviations in Gaussian fits to the apparent mobilities of dNMPs were observed due to the increased thickness of the electric double layer leading to a partial parabolic flow profile. The results secured for the dNMPs in thermoplastic nanochannels revealed a high identification efficiency (>99%) in most cases for the dNMPs due to differences in their apparent mobilities when using nanochannels, which could not be achieved using microscale columns.

Efficient group authentication in RFID using secret sharing scheme

Radio frequency identification (RFID) systems become more popular in recent years due to its low cost and high efficiency in identification. Authentication between tags and server is a key technology to protect the security of RFID systems. Most previous authentication approaches adopt hash functions or public cryptography, they need multiple rounds of communications between tags and sever. In this paper, we use threshold secret sharing scheme to propose a novel group authentication method in RFID. In our scheme, a group of tags can be authenticated by the sever with only need one-round communication, and the sever can identify the unqualified tags using the approach of cheater identification in secret sharing. The proposed authentication has efficient computation which is fit for RFID. More importantly, it can greatly reduce the cost of communication and also the risk of been attacked through the communication channel.

Inspecting the True Identity of Herbal Materials from Cynanchum Using ITS2 Barcode.

Cynanchum is a large genus with some important medicinal species in China. The medicinal species in Cynanchum are easily confused, leading to potential safety risks. In this study, the internal transcribed spacer 2 (ITS2) barcode was used to discriminate the medicinal plants in Cynanchum. The identifying capability of ITS2 was assessed using the specific genetic divergence, BLAST1, neighbor-joining (NJ) tree, maximum-likelihood (ML) tree, and single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) methods. Results indicated that the intra-specific genetic divergences of Cynanchum species were lower than their inter-specific genetic divergences. Of the 87 samples from 17 species, ITS2 showed a high identification efficiency of 90.8 and 87.4% at the species level through BLAST1 and the nearest distance methods. NJ tree and ML tree also demonstrated the suitability of ITS2 to differentiate Cynanchum species. Meanwhile, a stable SNP was found, and it could accurately authenticate Cynanchum paniculatum and Cynanchum atratum. Furthermore, we collected 64 commercial samples from three commonly used herbal medicines and evaluated the capability of ITS2 to survey their authentication. Of these samples, Cynanchi Atrati Radix et Rhizoma (Baiwei) showed a potential safety problem, and all the 11 test samples were adulterants. In conclusion, ITS2 can distinguish medicinal species in Cynanchum effectively, and its application could greatly improve the identification efficiency and accuracy of commercial herbal medicines in this genus.

DNA barcoding for molecular identification of Demodex based on mitochondrial genes.

There has been no widely accepted DNA barcode for species identification of Demodex. In this study, we attempted to solve this issue. First, mitochondrial cox1-5' and 12S gene fragments of Demodex folloculorum, D. brevis, D. canis, and D. caprae were amplified, cloned, and sequenced for the first time; intra/interspecific divergences were computed and phylogenetic trees were reconstructed. Then, divergence frequency distribution plots of those two gene fragments were drawn together with mtDNA cox1-middle region and 16S obtained in previous studies. Finally, their identification efficiency was evaluated by comparing barcoding gap. Results indicated that 12S had the higher identification efficiency. Specifically, for cox1-5' region of the four Demodex species, intraspecific divergences were less than 2.0%, and interspecific divergences were 21.1-31.0%; for 12S, intraspecific divergences were less than 1.4%, and interspecific divergences were 20.8-26.9%. The phylogenetic trees demonstrated that the four Demodex species clustered separately, and divergence frequency distribution plot showed that the largest intraspecific divergence of 12S (1.4%) was less than cox1-5' region (2.0%), cox1-middle region (3.1%), and 16S (2.8%). The barcoding gap of 12S was 19.4%, larger than cox1-5' region (19.1%), cox1-middle region (11.3%), and 16S (13.0%); the interspecific divergence span of 12S was 6.2%, smaller than cox1-5' region (10.0%), cox1-middle region (14.1%), and 16S (11.4%). Moreover, 12S has a moderate length (517bp) for sequencing at once. Therefore, we proposed mtDNA 12S was more suitable than cox1 and 16S to be a DNA barcode for classification and identification of Demodex at lower category level.

Erodibility prioritization of sub-watersheds using morphometric parameters analysis and its mapping: A comparison among TOPSIS, VIKOR, SAW, and CF multi-criteria decision making models

Soil erosion, every year imposes extensive damages to human beings by means of reducing soil productivity and filling reservoirs from sedimentation in Ghaemshahr Basin in Mazandaran Province, (Iran); therefore, identifying prone areas to soil erosion for preventive measures is essential in this basin. In this research, erodibility prioritization of sub-watersheds of Ghaemshahr Basin has done using morphometric parameters analysis and different multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) models such as simple additive weighing (SAW), VlseKriterijumska optimizacija I Kompromisno Resenje (VIKOR), technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS), and compound factor (CF). For this purpose, Advanced Space Thermal Emission Radiometer (ASTER), a Digital Elevation Model (DEM) with spatial resolution of 30m used for extraction and analysis of 23 morphometric parameters including basic, linear, shape, and landscape. For validation of the MCDM methods, the indices of percentage of changes and intensity of changes were used. The results of prioritization of sub-watersheds indicated that in TOPSIS and CF models, sub-watershed 30 with 0 and 13.33 scores are located in first rank, respectively, which is known as the most prone sub-watersheds to erosion. Also, results showed that sub-watersheds in terms of susceptibility to erosion, in CF model has an one category namely Low; meanwhile, in TOPSIS and VIKOR models show four classes including low, moderate, high, and very high. In contrast, for SAW model there are three classes of moderate, high, and very high susceptibility. In general, the results showed that morphometric parameters have high efficiency in identification of erosion-prone areas and also VIKOR method has higher predictive accuracy than TOPSIS, SAW, and CF models.

Towards a complete chaotic map‐based mobile RFID authentication protocol with efficient anticollision tag indexing

AbstractRadio frequency identification technology is one of the modern popular emerging technologies proven to advance a wide range of applications in both academia and industry. However, potential security risks, privacy issues, and efficiency are still open challenges that must be addressed seriously to achieve enhanced protection. In this paper, we show that the Akgün et al. protocol remains unsafe and imperfect in terms of the security issue and database identification efficiency. We, first, demonstrate that the Akgün et al. protocol suffers from a stolen/lost reader attack, which could expose users to some life threatening situations and unwanted collection of sensitive private information. Second, we found that all indexing identification‐based protocols and exceptionally the Akgün et al. protocol cannot be used properly when the collision of tag index occurs, which exhibits a low efficiency in the database entry identification process. As the Akgün et al. protocol is almost perfect, it is worthy to be enhanced. Therefore, towards a complete and secure mobile radio frequency identification authentication protocol, we propose efficient solutions that could overcome the aforementioned security problem and offer high identification efficiency using efficient anticollision procedure based on dynamic linked list data structure principle. Via informal and formal security analysis, we show that the improved version is insensitive to the most common attacks and is more efficient than the existing schemes in the literature. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley &amp; Sons, Ltd.

Evaluation of DNA barcode candidates for the discrimination of Artemisia L.

Because of the very similar morphologies and wide diversity of Artemisia L. varieties, they are difficult to identify, and there have been many arguments about the systematic classification Artemisia L., especially concerning the division of species. DNA barcode technology is used to rapidly identify species based on standard short DNA sequences. To evaluate seven candidate DNA barcodes (ITS, ITS2, psbA-trnH, rbcL, matK, rpoB, and rpoC1) regarding their ability to identify closely related species of the Artemisia genus in Xinjiang. The corresponding PCR amplification efficiency, detectable genetic divergence, identification efficiency and phylogenetic tree were assessed. We found that the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region exhibited the highest interspecific divergence, which was significantly higher than the observed intraspecific variation and showed the highest identification efficiency, followed by ITS2, psbA-trnH and, finally, rpoB. matK, rbcL, and rpoC1 performed poorly in this evaluation. ITS, ITS2, and psbA-trnH were able to perfectly identify the tested species Artemisia annua, A. absinthium, A. rupestris, A. tonurnefortiana, A. austriaca, A. dracunculus, A. vulgaris, and A. macrocephala. Therefore, we propose the ITS, ITS2, and psbA-trnH regions as promising DNA barcodes for the closely related species of Artemisia L. in Xinjiang.

Biometrics System based Human Identification using STR DNA Marker

Human identification plays an important role in numerous fields in the world, such as forensic, government institution, medical application, ..etc. Biometric is a metric to measure the biological characteristics that has then been used for identification and verification functions. The verification process is performed by compare the biometric characteristic such as, fingerprint, iris, DNA, etc., with a pre-stored record, while the identification process done by find the best match between the biometric characteristic and all records saved in a database. In this paper, we propose a biometrics system based on the DNA as a biometric technology for human identification using sixteen Short Tandem Repeats (STRs) DNA marker. A database of 139 records has been considered for Iraqi Diyala Province Population as a real data. In addition, a million DNA profiles has been generated randomly to test the performance of the proposed system. A database has been built using SQL SERVER software environment that provides a high efficiency in human identification. The proposed identification system introduces different search and matching methods with distinct matching level ratios that ease the utilization by users. The outcome results of the proposal system show a flexibility in term of inserting, searching, updating and a high ratio of matching. General Terms Bio-metrics System, DNA fingerprint.

Hydrophidae identification through analysis on Cyt b gene barcode

Hydrophidae, one of the precious traditional Chinese medicines, is generally drily preserved to prevent corruption, but it is hard to identify the species of Hydrophidae through the appearance because of the change due to the drying process. The identification through analysis on gene barcode, a new technique in species identification, can avoid the problem. The gene barcodes of the 6 species of Hydrophidae like Lapemis hardwickii were aquired through DNA extraction and gene sequencing. These barcodes were then in sequence alignment and test the identification efficency by BLAST. Our results revealed that the barcode sequences performed high identification efficiency, and had obvious difference between intra- and inter-species. These all indicated that Cyt b DNA barcoding can confirm the Hydrophidae identification.

Automatic identification approach for high-performance liquid chromatography-multiple reaction monitoring fatty acid global profiling.

Fatty acids (FAs) are a group of lipid molecules that are essential to organisms. As potential biomarkers for different diseases, FAs have attracted increasing attention from both biological researchers and the pharmaceutical industry. A sensitive and accurate method for globally profiling and identifying FAs is required for biomarker discovery. The high selectivity and sensitivity of high-performance liquid chromatography-multiple reaction monitoring (HPLC-MRM) gives it great potential to fulfill the need to identify FAs from complicated matrices. This paper developed a new approach for global FA profiling and identification for HPLC-MRM FA data mining. Mathematical models for identifying FAs were simulated using the isotope-induced retention time (RT) shift (IRS) and peak area ratios between parallel isotope peaks for a series of FA standards. The FA structures were predicated using another model based on the RT and molecular weight. Fully automated FA identification software was coded using the Qt platform based on these mathematical models. Different samples were used to verify the software. A high identification efficiency (greater than 75%) was observed when 96 FA species were identified in plasma. This FAs identification strategy promises to accelerate FA research and applications.