eDNA – Metabarcoding
There are various molecular methods for detecting DNA in water. You can search specifically for one species only by PCR amplification or do metabarcoding using next generation sequencing (NGS) to discover the entire diversity of the DNA contained in the water sample. With this approach it is possible to simultaneously detect the DNA of different species in the water sample. NGS makes it possible to detect all species occurring in a body of water with a single water sample. These methods analyse fragments of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA). Due to the fact that each cell contains 1.000-5.000 mitochondria but only one nucleus with one copy of ntDNA the chances of detecting mtDNA fragments in the water samples is much higher. Another advantage is that the structure and sequence of the mtDNA is fully or partially known for most of the common aquatic and amphibian species.
StarSEQ has created its own curated database.
Search via StarSEQ database using verified sequences. The Database can easily be extended with target sequences on customer request. ~130 fish (of which 55 species already identified in different projects), 30 amphibians and reptiles, 49 birds and 48 mammals are included. Open the box below to view all available species for metabarcoding approach.
