DNA is in the air-literally. It is surrounded by all living things on the planet, and now scientists have found a way to detect these invisible traces of genetic material so that they can identify the animals that released them.
This discovery-made independently by research teams in the UK and Denmark earlier this year-opened up a powerful way to pinpoint the presence of rare wild animals in deserts, tropical rainforests, and other harsh environments.
“This may change the way we study biodiversity,” said Professor Elizabeth Claire Of York University. “All of the other technologies we use to track animals — such as camera traps or acoustic monitoring — depend on whether the animal is physically present near or in front of you.
“Capturing their DNA from the air is much less invasive and much more flexible. For example, you can detect the presence of creatures in caves without disturbing them.”
In their experiments, Claire and her colleagues at Queen Mary University of London at the time used sensitive filters mounted on vacuum pumps, which were mounted on vacuum pumps spanning 20 positions. Hamerton Zoo Last December in Cambridgeshire. “We realized that the zoo would be a great place to test this type of technology, because the animals there are non-native animals and are spatially confined to enclosures,” Claire said. “This means that if we succeed and can detect DNA in the air, we will know exactly where it came from and how far it has spread.”
The team collected 72 air samples, and they used polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to amplify the tiny DNA fragments separated in the filter. They sequenced this genetic material and compared the results with known animal sequences – and identified 17 zoo animals from the invisible DNA traces they released into the air.
Claire said: “We found tiger DNA, wild dog DNA, and most importantly DNA from black-and-white collared lemurs.” “Their DNA is the most widely distributed. We don’t know why, but compared to other animals, lemurs They must be very active. They hopped around in the cage and became very interested in the people who wandered around them. In contrast, many other animals lie low in the winter.”
Interestingly, researchers led by Christina Lynggaard and Kristine Bohmann of the University of Copenhagen made similar discoveries at the same time. In their research, they inhaled air from several locations in the Copenhagen Zoo and detected a total of 49 species from the DNA found in the filter.
“We were surprised,” Boman said. “We have obtained DNA from mammals, fish, birds and reptiles, large and small animals, feathered creatures, and other scaly creatures. We even detected the DNA of guppy swimming in the pond of the zoo’s tropical house. .”
In order to better measure, both teams found that they can also pinpoint the presence of local wild animals, nearby pets, and animals used as animal feed in zoos.
“We realize that we are testing the DNA of animals that are fed to zoo animals, such as fish,” Bohmann said. “We also collected DNA from local cats, dogs and local wild animals. What we were able to detect was amazing.”
Projects in Denmark and the United Kingdom are funded as part of high-risk, high-return strategies designed to support speculative research projects deemed worthy of financing for their broad potential benefits.
“With regard to tracking DNA in the air, we now need to figure out various things, but the actual benefits are very exciting,” Bohmann added.
Future uses of airborne DNA detectors may include tracking pests from air samples and pinpointing animals living in caves without disturbing them. However, both groups of scientists acknowledge that there are still some obstacles to overcome before the technology becomes a standard method for studying biodiversity.
“You may detect a piece of tiger DNA, but we are currently not sure when it may be released by an animal. It may be a few minutes, a few hours, or a few days ago,” Claire said. “At present, we cannot calculate how long DNA can survive in the air. This is one of the many aspects of this technology that we must address.
“However, we are already one step ahead. If we are the only team to make this point, we will have to wait for others to copy our work. Our colleagues are in Denmark This work has been done independently, so we all know that this technology is effective and it should have a very exciting future. “
