Proceedings of the Third International Barcode of Life Conference Mexico City

"DNA barcoding" was proposed formally in 2003 as a technique for species diagnosis and identification using short standardized gene regions. Early conferences focused on the degree to which barcode-based identifications were reliable, and subsequently the most pressing of such concerns have been laid to rest. In 2009, the Mexico City conference witnessed an explosion of new applications of DNA barcoding across a rapidly expanding range of fields. This PLOS ONE Collection includes a selection of articles from the speakers in the plenary sessions at the Mexico City barcode conference.

Image Credit: Juan Manuel de J Escalante (www.realitat.com)