Case Study
Submitted By
| Name: | Peter Nick |
| Institution: | Botanical Institute, University of Karlsruhe |
| Country: | Germany |
| Email: | peter.nick@bio.uni-karlsruhe.de |
Title & Categories
| Case Study Title: | Barcoding Ayurvedic Plants for Food Diagnostics |
| Focus Theme: | Experimental application of barcodes to a new taxonomic group, Environmental monitering/quality indicators, Biotic inventory of multiple taxa in a region or habitat, Adding barcodes to a large survey of a taxonomic group, Species conservation, Environmental monitering/quality indicators, Adding barcodes to a large survey of a taxonomic group, Species conservation, Experimental application of barcodes to a new taxonomic group, Adding barcodes to a large survey of a taxonomic group, Experimental application of barcodes to a new taxonomic group, Biotic inventory of multiple taxa in a region or habitat, Species conservation, Biotic inventory of multiple taxa in a region or habitat, Adding barcodes to a large survey of a taxonomic group, Resolving discrete taxonomic problems, Biotic inventory of multiple taxa in a region or habitat, Adding barcodes to a large survey of a taxonomic group, Species conservation |
| Geographic Region: | Southern Asia, Caribbean Ocean, Australia, South America, South America, South East Asian Peninsula, South America, South East Asian Peninsula, East Asia, South East Asian Peninsula |
| Habitat Type: | Terrestrial cultivated land, Terrestrial temperate forest, Terrestrial tropical forest, Marine continental shelf water column, Freshwater - Other, Terrestrial - Other, Terrestrial montane, Terrestrial tropical forest, Terrestrial montane, Terrestrial montane, Terrestrial tropical forest, Terrestrial cultivated land, Marine - Other |
| Taxonomic Group: | c: Magnoliophyta, c: Magnoliophyta, c: PLANTS, f: Reptilia, d: Rotifera, d: Arthropoda - Crustacea, f: Mammalia, a: Protozoa, a: PROTOZOA, c: PLANTS, c: Magnoliophyta, c: PLANTS, d: Arthropoda - Hexapoda - Lepidoptera, d: Arthropoda - Hexapoda - Hymenoptera, f: VERTEBRATES, f: Osteichthyes, f: Chondrichthyes, c: Magnoliophyta |
Scope
Establish a collection of barcodes for Ayurvedic plants that can used in Botanical Food Diagnostics to test, whether a given sample contains, what it declares.
Purpose
1. Development of a barcode database for Ayurvedic Food Plants.
2. Resolving discrepancies between traditional terminology and scientific taxonomy.
3. Generate a reference for Botanical Food Diagnostics.
Background
Ayurvedic Food Plants represent a novel trend in Western diet. They are mostly commercialized in form of herbal teas or spice mixtures posing special challenges to Food Diagnostics. A second challenge is the discrepancy between traditional nomenclature and scientific taxonomy. For instance, the term "Tulsi" (Holy Basil) is usually "translated" into "Ocimum tenuiflorum", but it can also be used for other species of Basil. By genetic barcoding it should be possible to discriminate different taxa that are covered by the same Ayurvedic term and it should become possible to generate a reference database for the identification of given samples. Due to the high price of Ayurvedic products and due to the lack of experience in the Western world the likelihood of surrogate products is relatively high.
Logistics
The Botanical Garden of the University can contribute to this project by maintaining the reference material. The Botanical Institute is equipped for molecular phylogeny. Support is requested for
1. obtaining seeds or cuttings of reference plants.
2. distributing the tasks of generating the barcodes.