Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLD)

The Centre for Biodiversity Genomics is hiring 10 positions! This is a great opportunity for recent graduates.

BGE Reference Library Pipeline and Curation Tool The exponential growth of data on BOLD can make it challenging for experts and end-users to curate reference libraries. To address this challenge, partners of the Biodiversity Genomic Europe (BGE) pro...

To help address the challenge posed by the growth of data on @boldsystems.bsky.social, partners of @biogeneurope.bsky.social developed an automated pipeline and a manual curation tool to facilitate the curation of an European reference library.

iboleurope.org/bge-referenc...

Did you know?

The newer v5 ID Engine reference databases are updated weekly and are dereplicated for better performance as well as to avoid bias from uneven sampling.

🔊 Announcement

The legacy v4 ID Engine will be retired on August 1, 2025. To ensure you are using the most accurate and up-to-date reference libraries, please switch to the v5 ID Engine today.

Questions? Please contact 📩 support@boldsystems.org

Infographic of Q2 community learning sessions which displays metrics about BOLD hosting five webinars with 325 participants joining during months April - June 2025.

Infographic of a world map displaying markers of participant countries joining the Q2 community learning sessions. A total of 56 countries participated.

🎉 Over 300 participants from 56 countries joined our BOLDv5 2025 Q2 event series. Thank you to everyone who joined and helped make our community learning sessions a success!

Follow BOLD on LinkedIn and Bluesky for updates on future community sessions.

#DNABarcoding #Community #Events #BOLD

Follow us for monthly BIN updates as the BOLD DNA reference library continues to grow.

#BOLD #Species #Biodiversity #DNABarcoding #Bioinformatics #Nature #Technology #Database #BINUpdate #Taxonomy

Active BINs are updated monthly using all COI sequences on BOLD, both public and private. Data on BOLD is private by default. Project managers must update settings to make projects or datasets public. See the Handbook for instructions: 🔗 bit.ly/4d3GOeZ

📈Monthly growth of Barcode Index Numbers (BINs) on BOLD

Every month, as new species and sequences are added to the BOLD database, BINs are updated to reflect the latest operational taxonomic units.

The total number of active BINs in the BOLD database after the June update is now: 1,316,038.

Did you know?

The newer v5 ID Engine reference databases are updated weekly and are dereplicated for better performance as well as to avoid bias from uneven sampling.

🔊 Announcement

The legacy v4 ID Engine will be retired on August 1, 2025. To ensure you are using the most accurate and up-to-date reference libraries, please switch to the v5 ID Engine today.

Questions? Please contact 📩 support@boldsystems.org

💬 Have you recently published research using BOLD? Contact us for a chance to be featured on our social channels: 📩 media@biodiversitygenomics.net

BOLD – The Barcode of Life Data Systems BOLDv5 features a completely redesigned layout compared to BOLDv4, with a focus on richer content and supporting materials. It also includes a more complex site structure. Tutorials are being…

Anyone can submit records to BOLD via the workbench, and continue building a comprehensive reference database to support DNA-based species identification: boldsystems.org/workbench/

Christodoulou et al. (2025) describe their project in a new paper published in Scientific Data🔗 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Photo: 📸 Epimeria frankei collected from the North Sea. BOLD record (Process ID: BNSEP049-15) deposited by Deutsches Zentrum fuer Marine Biodiversitaetsforschung.

The GEANS project (Genetic Tools for Ecosystem Health Assessment in the North Sea Region) added 4,005 high‑quality barcode sequences from 715 species, representing over 29% of North Sea macrobenthos species.

Due to a scheduled maintenance by our internet provider, BOLD Systems may experience intermittent connection disruptions between July 18, 2025 8pm and July 19, 2025 1am EDT.

GitHub - boldsystems-central/BOLDconnectR: R package supporting interactive data access on BOLD R package supporting interactive data access on BOLD - boldsystems-central/BOLDconnectR

This package enables seamless downloading of data into the R environment using various inputs, including process IDs, sample IDs, taxonomy, and geography.

Explore BOLDConnectR on GitHub:
🔗 github.com/boldsystems-...

Are you an R user?

BOLDConnectR is a package that facilitates the retrieval, transformation, and analysis of both public and private data in BOLD. It was created because of the widespread use of R software by BOLD users, and enables the customization and repetition of workflows.

Follow us for monthly BIN updates as the BOLD DNA reference library continues to grow

#BOLD #Species #Biodiversity #DNABarcoding #Bioinformatics #Nature #Technology #Database #BINUpdate #Taxonomy

Active BINs are updated monthly using all COI sequences on BOLD, both public and private. Data on BOLD is private by default. Project managers must update settings to make projects or datasets public. See the Handbook for instructions: 🔗 v3.boldsystems.org/index.php/re...

📈Monthly growth of Barcode Index Numbers (BINs) on BOLD

Every month, as new species and sequences are added to the BOLD database, BINs are updated to reflect the latest operational taxonomic units.

The total number of active BINs in the BOLD database after the June update is now: 1,312,535

Anyone can submit records to BOLD via the workbench, and continue building a comprehensive reference database to support DNA-based species identification: buff.ly/6WUlf9c

Paper: 🔗 buff.ly/203QLCu

Photo: 📸 Nassella neesiana collected from Uruguay. BOLD record (Process ID: MNATU001-18) with rbcL, trnH‑psbA, and trnL (UAA) DNA barcodes.

Researchers added 171 high‑quality barcode sequences covering 50 of Uruguay's vascular plant species with voucher images to BOLD's public data portal.

Read more about Uruguay's national DNA barcoding efforts as part of the Uruguayan Barcode of Life Initiative.

Our DNA library is made possible thanks to the support of our funding partners.

Today’s featured specimen is a parasitoid wasp from the family Figitidae, collected in Alberta, Canada. This record was generated with support from the New Frontiers in Research Fund.

Photo: 📸 Shortfin mako (Isurus oxyrinchus) collected from Oman in 2011. BOLD record (Process ID: GEP173-12) deposited by United Arab Emirates University and sequenced at @cbg-uofg.bsky.social .

Use the BOLD identification engine to submit DNA barcode sequences for ID: id.boldsystems.org

DNA barcoding reveals mislabeling of endangered sharks sold as swordfish in New England fish markets - Conservation Genetics Mislabeling of shark and swordfish meat poses a substantial challenge to conservation of rapidly declining pelagic shark populations in the North Atlantic, so routine market assessments are critical. ...

Read more about how the BOLD reference library and identification engine were used to identify species using the COI marker in an important conservation context.

Paper: 🔗 link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Researchers found that 10.5% of shark and swordfish products from species listed as Near Threatened, Vulnerable, or Endangered (IUCN) in New England seafood markets were mislabeled.

#DNABarcoding #Biodiversity #Conservation #Seafood

🧵5/5
The committee identified opportunities and challenges to answering these questions and outlined several recommendations on how best to overcome limitations to the accessibility of biodiversity-relevant data.

🧵4/5
The report addresses two key questions:

❓ What functions should the National Digital Platform for Biodiversity Conservation support?

❓ What criteria should be used to select or prioritize data and information for incorporation into the Platform?

🧵3/5
To help address these goals, the committee explored the development of a National Digital Platform for Biodiversity Conservation to improve the storage, standardization, accessibility and use of biodiversity data.