Dr Kathryn Dawkins1, Liz West2, James Wyatt2
1eDNA Frontiers, Curtin University, Bentley, Australia, 2Ecological Service Professionals Pty Ltd, Wynnum, Australia
Biography:
Kat is an experienced Research Scientist and Operations Manager for eDNA Frontiers. Kat has more than 15 years’ experience working on molecular biology applications including conservation genetics, species delineation, and detection of rare species. Kat and the team at eDNA Frontiers analyse eDNA samples to generate species diversity profiles, provide baseline audits, and to identify organisms of biosecurity interest for the resources sector.
Abstract:
Environmental DNA (eDNA) contains information on the presence of many species within each sample. eDNA metabarcoding can provide broad biodiversity information by simultaneously sequencing the DNA from multiple organisms at once. The range of detections that metabarcoding provides are valuable for biodiversity assessment, with assay choice allowing you to choose how broad the detection spectrum is. However, targeting multiple organisms at once also means that the sensitivity for each target is dependent on the abundance of all target templates present in the eDNA sample. qPCR targets a specific species to the exclusion of everything else and thus is less affected by abundant off-target templates. This gives qPCR the ability to provide a more robust assessment of true positive and negative detections of a target species. We argue here that metabarcoding and qPCR techniques should not be seen as competing but complementary, as shown in a study where a broad assessment of vertebrates was required as well as a targeted assessment of a threatened species of freshwater crayfish. To achieve these aims, a species-specific qPCR assay was designed and validated and two metabarcoding assays applied to samples, with the application of both techniques enhancing project outcomes.