Pricing

Standard Analytical Services

Pricing – DNA Barcoding

All prices are in Canadian dollars and apply to submissions involving 96-well plates of tissues. This price schedule is based on the use of standard CCDB protocols and applies to all researchers and organizations. Standard protocols may not be appropriate for all tissue types (e.g. older museum specimens or forensic samples) and additional charges may apply.

Go here for pricing of our other genomic and metagenomic services.

CCDB carries out the following steps:

CCDB Admin: Plate reception, specimen data validation, billing.
CCDB Analytical Lab: DNA extraction, PCR amplification of the barcode region(s), bidirectional amplicon sequencing (where applicable), trace file assembly, uploading trace files and sequences to BOLD.
BOLD Systems: Data validation and storage.

Other Services

Click here for the pricing of our genomic and metagenomic barcoding services.

For more information or to obtain a quote for your project, contact us.

Price Categories

Standard Rate

The full standard rate will apply to all submissions unless the Provider qualifies for the discounted research rate (see below).

Research Rate

This discounted rate is available to Providers that align their research efforts with our mission to assemble a DNA barcode library for all eukaryotic species. This research rate applies only to submissions where all required data elements are uploaded to BOLD.

To qualify, Providers must conform to the following metadata quality standards: collection location with GPS co-ordinates, voucher specimen images (representative images are not acceptable, for more information please refer to the Photography Guide in the BOLD Handbook), museum voucher location and ID and full taxonomy to the level of species or operational taxonomic unit.

The Provider also agrees to data sharing in compliance with best practices established under CBG’s Data Release Policy as dictated by funding agencies. Subsequent to these requirements, records will be released publicly upon data publication, or after 12 months from the date the sequence was generated, whichever comes sooner.

Analytical Services

High-throughput barcode analysis (96-well plate/box)

This represents the standard package to which additional services can be added. Please note that all submissions must follow the 96-well microplate guidelines available on our website. This high-throughput barcode analysis is available for animals (COI), plants (matK+rbcL), and fungi (ITS) and includes the following services: Metadata validation, DNA extraction, PCR amplification, bidirectional sequencing of barcode regions(s), sequence assembly and base calling, and sequence and trace file upload to the Barcode of Life Data System (BOLD).

Animal tissue (single pass only) – starting at $1,250

Single pass barcode analysis of animal tissue is recommended for samples that are expected to yield high quality DNA. This service will involve single round of PCR with universal primers targeting full barcode region (658bp or similar length), followed by PCR check, and bidirectional sequencing. Quality of the provided material will impact the results and for poorly preserved and/or old specimens with degraded DNA additional analysis may be recommended. Results are normally available within 4-6 weeks from the date the lab begins processing of samples. Lead time depends on the size of the queue and can be extended due to missing or incomplete specimen data and/or payment delays.

Standard Rate: $2,200
Research Rate: $1,250

Animal tissue (failure-tracking, optional) – starting at $875

Some samples may fail to amplify and/or sequence due to random primer mismatches or degraded material. Revisiting failed samples with primer sets that target shorter overlapping fragments spanning the barcode region enables barcode recovery. This option delays processing time significantly as the analysis must be completed in multiple stages. Allow additional 2-4 weeks to complete processing of samples.

Standard Rate: $1,540
Research Rate: $875

Animal tissue (first pass with failure-tracking) – starting at $2,125

Standard Rate: $3,750
Research Rate: $2,125

Animal tissue (older and/or degraded material) – starting at $1,750

Recommended for submissions with mostly old specimens that are not likely to produce amplicons for full barcode region. This option allows use of failure-tracking option as the initial step resulting in reduced processing time. Results are normally available within 4-6 weeks from the date the lab begins processing of samples.

Standard Rate: $3,100
Research Rate: $1,750

Plant tissue – starting at $1,800

This offer applies to plant tissues submitted in 96-tube racks. This option includes analysis of two markers (barcode standard for plants) with bidirectional sequencing, sequence editing and submission of traces and consensus sequences to BOLD. Results are normally available within 4-6 weeks from the date the lab begins processing of samples.

Standard Rate: $3,300
Research Rate: $1,800

Fungal and algal tissue – starting at $1,500

This offer applies to fungal and algal specimens submitted in 96-tube racks. This option includes analysis of single loci (barcode standard for fungi or algae) with bidirectional sequencing, sequence editing and submission of traces and consensus sequences to BOLD. Results are normally available within 4-6 weeks from the date the lab begins processing of samples.

Standard Rate: $2,640
Research Rate: $1,500

SMRT Sequencing on PacBio Sequel IIe

This high-throughput barcoding protocol includes DNA extraction from fresh tissue samples (or whole vouchers for small organisms) in a single batch of 96-well plates. Freshly extracted DNA is used as template for PCR amplification in 384-well format with CLepFol primer cocktails thus material must be fresh (up to 5 years). This works well for most insects and other terrestrial arthropods. As the produced amplicons require pooling prior to SMRT sequencing workflow, each amplicon is dual-indexed with a unique pair of molecular tags (unique molecular identifier, UMI) on both 5′- and 3′-ends. The position of a sample in a 96-well plate and the place each 96-well plate occupies in the batch is used to link the unique pairs of UMIs in the resulting SMRT sequences to the source sample. The analysis of circular consensus sequences is supported by mBrave followed by validation and submission of results to BOLD.

Because the indexing PCR requires the production of template-free PCR plates in large batches and in sets of 24 384 plates, and due to complexity of the workflow which involves five processing stages that collectively include 30 steps, we can only accept samples in batches of 48 or 96 96-well plates. The price per sample varies based on the number of samples in a single batch (4560 or 9120) or DNA extraction protocol requested (SPRI or GFP).

Batch Analysis with SMRT Sequencing	SPRI Extraction	GFP Extraction
48 96-well plates (fresh material, insects only)	$17,100.00	$22,800.00
96 96-well plates (fresh material, insects only)	$27,360.00	$38,760.00
Single 96-well plate, NGSFT protocol for samples with degraded DNA (decades-old insects)	N/A	$3,500.00

SPRI vs GFP DNA Extraction

CCDB introduced a SPRI DNA extraction protocol in 2019 as an alternative to the glass-fiber extraction method. While the SPRI method is more scalable, it is not suited for older material or samples with high polysaccharide contents (e.g. mollusks or echinoderms). As well, it does not tolerate oversampling so it is crucial to follow the sample submission requirements. Oversampling will result in poor DNA extraction and a subsequent failure to amplify the COI barcode region even in fresh specimens.

The GFP method involves decade-proven automated CCDB glass fiber membrane protocol as a fail-proof alternative to the more sensitive SPRI method. Due to capacity constraints and higher consumable and labour cost, it is a more expensive option with longer pre-sequencing processing time.