Speaker 1: Welcome to Brainstuff production of I Heart Radio. Hey, Brainstuff,
Speaker 1: Lauren Volga Baum. Here. You know that DNA, the molecule
Speaker 1: in cells that contains our unique genetic code, is inside
Speaker 1: of animals, but you might not have known that it
Speaker 1: was floating around in the air. Neither did most scientists
Speaker 1: until a recent study was published. For the article of
Speaker 1: this episode is based on how Stuff Work, spoke with
Speaker 1: the lead author of the studying question, Dr Elizabeth Claire,
Speaker 1: who's an ecologist at York University in Toronto, Canada. She explained,
Speaker 1: I had been asked to write a document on how
Speaker 1: environmental DNA can be used to monitor biodiversity in the future.
Speaker 1: I listed soil, snow, rain, honey, even spraying foliage and
Speaker 1: collecting the water that runs off. I then said and air,
Speaker 1: and went looking for a case study I could describe.
Speaker 1: I was very surprised that there really were none. She
Speaker 1: earned The Queen Mary University of London, where Claire was
Speaker 1: affiliated at the time, had a funding source for high risk,
Speaker 1: high reward ideas, and she proposed a project on sampling
Speaker 1: environmental DNA also called e d N A in the air.
Speaker 1: She said, we were surprised to see that people were
Speaker 1: talking about it, but it had not been tried, so
Speaker 1: we decided we should do it ourselves. At the same
Speaker 1: time as Claire's study, a similar study was being carried
Speaker 1: out at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark. Has to
Speaker 1: Works also spoke by email with Dr Christina Lingo, whose
Speaker 1: name I hope I'm pronouncing correctly, study author and a
Speaker 1: researcher there who says her fellow University of Copenhagen researcher
Speaker 1: Christine Bouman, came up with the idea. Lingo said she
Speaker 1: wanted to apply for a Danish research grant called Velam Experiment,
Speaker 1: which supports crazy projects that may not work, but if
Speaker 1: they do work, will revolutionize the research area. She then thought,
Speaker 1: and I quote, this project has to be totally crazy,
Speaker 1: like trying to detect animal DNA by vacuuming air. She
Speaker 1: got the money for the project and we were able
Speaker 1: to try it out. Don't worry, this is not a
Speaker 1: case where one team is fighting against the other for credit. Indeed,
Speaker 1: the fact that they were independently successful validates both studies.
Speaker 1: It turns out that animal DNA is all over the place,
Speaker 1: and knowing this can be a helpful conservation measure, especially
Speaker 1: where both endangered and invasive species are concerned. Claire's team
Speaker 1: collected environmental DNA at the Hammerton's Zoo Park in the
Speaker 1: UK using a low powered pump fitted with a filter.
Speaker 1: She said, it's a bit like making coffee. We hope
Speaker 1: the air goes through and the DNA is caught. Of course,
Speaker 1: with a coffee maker, the water goes through the filter
Speaker 1: and the grounds are caught. The team detected twenty five
Speaker 1: different species of animals, such as tigers, lemurs, and dingoes.
Speaker 1: They even collected environmental DNA from animals d of meters
Speaker 1: away from their testing site. The Copenhagen team also used
Speaker 1: filters attached to blower fans at the Copenhagen Zoo in Denmark,
Speaker 1: but in another sample opted for a water based vacuum
Speaker 1: that sucked up the air particles, then filtered the water
Speaker 1: to retain the DNA. Through these methods, the team found
Speaker 1: evidence of forty nine animal species in the area, including fish, birds, reptiles,
Speaker 1: amphibians and mammals. Both the English and Danish teams also
Speaker 1: picked up the environmental DNA of chickens, cows, horses, and fish,
Speaker 1: which are used for food for the zoo animals, as
Speaker 1: well as environmental DNA from animals that lived outside the zoo,
Speaker 1: like squirrels and hedgehogs. The results of both studies were
Speaker 1: published separately in the journal Cell Biology. At this point,
Speaker 1: you might be asking yourself if this is more than
Speaker 1: just a cool party trick, but the potential is huge
Speaker 1: for animal conservation efforts. Lingo said. By having a new
Speaker 1: method that allows us to monitor vertebrates in a non
Speaker 1: and ace of way, we can hopefully help monitor invasive
Speaker 1: species and even endangered species that are sometimes difficult to
Speaker 1: monitor due to their low population density. It'll be a
Speaker 1: minute before this really takes off in conservation circles, though,
Speaker 1: because environmental DNA research is still in its relative infancy. First,
Speaker 1: the Copenhagen team wants to repeat the experiment in different areas.
Speaker 1: Since their initial experiment was done inside a zoo, Lingo said,
Speaker 1: we expect that it will also be possible to do
Speaker 1: it everywhere, but that is the next thing to do.
Speaker 1: We want to know what happens in nature. At this point,
Speaker 1: it's unclear how animal DNA gets into the air. Claire
Speaker 1: said it may be any source of biological material. U
Speaker 1: sloft off skin cells, bits of hair, feces urine, even
Speaker 1: from breathing out. Potentially, we simply do not know. Environmental
Speaker 1: DNA is only defined as any DNA we collect that's
Speaker 1: not directly from a tissue source. We have no idea
Speaker 1: how far it can travel, how quickly it accumulates, how
Speaker 1: fast it degrades, and what weather or location factors might
Speaker 1: alter this. Further tests, she says, we'll flush out the
Speaker 1: concept to a much greater degree. Quote this will help
Speaker 1: us figure out how we can actually deploy this method
Speaker 1: in the real world to sample biodiversity. Today's episode is
Speaker 1: based on the article scientists can suck animal DNA literally
Speaker 1: out of thin air on how stuff works dot Com,
Speaker 1: written by Leo Hoyt. Brain Stuff is production of by
Speaker 1: Heart Radio in partnership with how stuff works dot Com.
Speaker 1: It was produced by Tyler Clang. Four more podcasts It's
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