Preprint: DNA-based identification of plants and the genomic nature of plant species differences

The genomes and life histories of plants are often complex, which can make telling plant species apart using standard DNA barcodes challenging. This paper describes results from a large-scale analysis that addressed this challenge. The authors uncovered new insights into genomic differences among plant species that can be used to improve current DNA-based methods for plant species identification.
The findings provide an important quantitative assessment of the genomic nature of differences between plant species and lay the foundation for the development of enhanced approaches to high-resolution DNA-based plant species discrimination.

Huang, W., Li, DZ., Antonelli, A. et al. “DNA-based identification of plants and the genomic nature of plant species differences.” Commun Biol (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-026-09858-7.