title: DNA barcoding in Mexico: an introduction.
abstract: DNA barcoding has become an important current scientific trend to the understanding of the world biodiversity. In the case of mega-diverse hot spots like Mexico, this technique represents an important tool for taxonomists, allowing them to concentrate in highlighted species by the barcodes instead of analyzing entire sets of specimens. This tendency resulted in the creation of a national network named Mexican Barcode of Life (MEXBOL) which main goals are to train students, and to promote the interaction and collective work among researchers interested in this topic. As a result, the number of records in the Barcode of Life Database (BOLD) for some groups, such as the Mammalia, Actinopterygii, Polychaeta, Branchiopoda, Ostracoda, Maxillopoda, Nematoda, Pinophyta, Ascomycota and Basidiomycota place Mexico among the top ten countries in the generation of these data. This special number presents only few of the many interesting findings in this region of the world, after the use of this technique and its integration with other methodologies.
authors.affiliation: El Colegio de la Frontera Sur, Av. Centenario Km 5.5, Chetumal, Quintana Roo, 77014, Mexico.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Elías-Gutiérrez
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: León-Regagnon
mesh_terms: D044822:Biodiversity; D002965:Classification / Q000379:methods; D058893:DNA Barcoding, Taxonomic / Q000639:trends*; D030561:Databases, Nucleic Acid; D008800:Mexico; D013045:Species Specificity
keywords: DNA barcoding; Mexico; biodiversity; taxonomy