Our program pioneers cutting-edge methods for the surveillance of wildlife and their pathogens, utilizing environmental nucleic acid (eNA) detection techniques. These eNA tools use sensitive molecular methods to find and quantify both environmental DNA (eDNA) and environmental RNA (eRNA). By searching for traces of eDNA and eRNA in the environment, we can learn about the species that live in and around a sampled ecosystem and begin to understand the pathogens that may threaten at-risk species with disease.
Most living things constantly shed cells into their environment as they form new layers of skin, eliminate bodily waste, or engage in reproductive activities. Each one of these cells contains a complete copy of the host organism’s genome: the molecular blueprint that makes them them. We can harness the millions of molecular blueprints floating around our world by collecting bulk environmental samples (like water, soil, or air), concentrating them, and chemically extracting the samples to give us eDNA.
Once we have a sample of eDNA in the lab, we can investigate it using either a species-specific molecular tool, such as quantitative PCR (think spear-fishing), or a species-general tool, such as metabarcoding (think net-fishing). Finding eDNA from a target organism can tell us whether that organism is likely to be found in and around the sampled environment. We can use this information for various purposes, such as helping clarify the geographic range of threatened species or predicting whether a threatened species might be at risk of disease.
We can take the power of eNA testing one step further with eRNA. In most organisms, RNA is only made by living cells and breaks down quickly after it’s generated. This means that eRNA detection tells us not only that a target species is present, but also that it was recently alive.
At CWHL, we are committed to building sensitive and rigorous eNA detection methods to help support wildlife managers and stakeholders in their decision-making processes.
