Molecular identification is increasingly used to speed up biodiversity surveys and laboratory experiments. However, many groups of organisms cannot be reliably identified using standard databases such as GenBank or BOLD due to lack of sequenced voucher specimens identified by experts. Sometimes a large number of sequences are available, but with too many errors to allow identification. Here, we address this problem for parasitoids of Drosophila by introducing a curated open-access molecular reference database, DROP (Drosophila parasitoids). Identifying Drosophila parasitoids is challenging and poses a major impediment to realize the full potential of this model system in studies ranging from molecular mechanisms to food webs, and in biological control of Drosophila suzukii. In DROP, genetic data are linked to voucher specimens and, where possible, the voucher specimens are identified by taxonomists and vetted through direct comparison with primary type material. To initiate DROP, we curated 154 laboratory strains, 856 vouchers, 554 DNA sequences, 16 genomes, 14 transcriptomes, and six proteomes drawn from a total of 183 operational taxonomic units (OTUs): 114 described Drosophila parasitoid species and 69 provisional species. We found species richness of Drosophila parasitoids to be heavily underestimated and provide an updated taxonomic catalogue for the community. DROP offers accurate molecular identification and improves cross-referencing between individual studies that we hope will catalyse research on this diverse and fascinating model system. Our effort should also serve as an example for researchers facing similar molecular identification problems in other groups of organisms.

中文翻译：

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DROP：用于鉴定果蝇寄生蜂的分子凭证数据库


分子鉴定越来越多地用于加速生物多样性调查和实验室实验。然而，由于缺乏专家鉴定的测序凭证样本，许多生物体类群无法使用 GenBank 或 BOLD 等标准数据库进行可靠鉴定。有时有大量序列可用，但错误太多而无法识别。在这里，我们通过引入一个精心策划的开放获取分子参考数据库 DROP（果蝇寄生蜂）来解决果蝇寄生蜂的这个问题。识别果蝇寄生蜂具有挑战性，并且为实现该模型系统在从分子机制到食物网的研究以及果蝇铃木生物控制的全部潜力方面构成了主要障碍。在 DROP 中，遗传数据与凭证样本相关联，并且在可能的情况下，凭证样本由分类学家识别并通过与主要类型材料的直接比较进行审查。为了启动 DROP，我们策划了 154 个实验室菌株、856 个凭证、554 个 DNA 序列、16 个基因组、14 个转录组和 6 个蛋白质组，这些蛋白质组来自总共 183 个操作分类单位 (OTU)：114 个描述的果蝇寄生生物物种和 69 个临时物种。我们发现果蝇寄生蜂的物种丰富度被严重低估，并为该群落提供了更新的分类目录。 DROP 提供准确的分子识别并改善各个研究之间的交叉引用，我们希望这将促进对这个多样化且令人着迷的模型系统的研究。我们的努力也应该为其他生物体中面临类似分子鉴定问题的研究人员树立榜样。