WEBVTT - How Much Animal DNA Is in the Air?

0:00:01.920 --> 0:00:07.039
<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Brainstuff production of I Heart Radio. Hey, Brainstuff,

0:00:07.120 --> 0:00:11.520
<v Speaker 1>Lauren Volga Baum. Here. You know that DNA, the molecule

0:00:11.600 --> 0:00:15.720
<v Speaker 1>in cells that contains our unique genetic code, is inside

0:00:15.720 --> 0:00:18.680
<v Speaker 1>of animals, but you might not have known that it

0:00:18.720 --> 0:00:22.239
<v Speaker 1>was floating around in the air. Neither did most scientists

0:00:22.440 --> 0:00:26.960
<v Speaker 1>until a recent study was published. For the article of

0:00:26.960 --> 0:00:29.200
<v Speaker 1>this episode is based on how Stuff Work, spoke with

0:00:29.240 --> 0:00:32.120
<v Speaker 1>the lead author of the studying question, Dr Elizabeth Claire,

0:00:32.520 --> 0:00:37.200
<v Speaker 1>who's an ecologist at York University in Toronto, Canada. She explained,

0:00:37.640 --> 0:00:39.920
<v Speaker 1>I had been asked to write a document on how

0:00:40.000 --> 0:00:43.600
<v Speaker 1>environmental DNA can be used to monitor biodiversity in the future.

0:00:44.200 --> 0:00:48.559
<v Speaker 1>I listed soil, snow, rain, honey, even spraying foliage and

0:00:48.600 --> 0:00:52.200
<v Speaker 1>collecting the water that runs off. I then said and air,

0:00:52.520 --> 0:00:54.880
<v Speaker 1>and went looking for a case study I could describe.

0:00:55.360 --> 0:00:59.640
<v Speaker 1>I was very surprised that there really were none. She

0:01:00.000 --> 0:01:03.120
<v Speaker 1>earned The Queen Mary University of London, where Claire was

0:01:03.120 --> 0:01:06.959
<v Speaker 1>affiliated at the time, had a funding source for high risk,

0:01:07.160 --> 0:01:10.839
<v Speaker 1>high reward ideas, and she proposed a project on sampling

0:01:10.920 --> 0:01:14.240
<v Speaker 1>environmental DNA also called e d N A in the air.

0:01:15.240 --> 0:01:18.119
<v Speaker 1>She said, we were surprised to see that people were

0:01:18.160 --> 0:01:20.800
<v Speaker 1>talking about it, but it had not been tried, so

0:01:21.000 --> 0:01:24.880
<v Speaker 1>we decided we should do it ourselves. At the same

0:01:24.920 --> 0:01:27.800
<v Speaker 1>time as Claire's study, a similar study was being carried

0:01:27.840 --> 0:01:32.200
<v Speaker 1>out at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark. Has to

0:01:32.280 --> 0:01:35.759
<v Speaker 1>Works also spoke by email with Dr Christina Lingo, whose

0:01:35.880 --> 0:01:38.720
<v Speaker 1>name I hope I'm pronouncing correctly, study author and a

0:01:38.800 --> 0:01:42.600
<v Speaker 1>researcher there who says her fellow University of Copenhagen researcher

0:01:42.760 --> 0:01:46.760
<v Speaker 1>Christine Bouman, came up with the idea. Lingo said she

0:01:46.880 --> 0:01:50.680
<v Speaker 1>wanted to apply for a Danish research grant called Velam Experiment,

0:01:51.040 --> 0:01:54.840
<v Speaker 1>which supports crazy projects that may not work, but if

0:01:54.840 --> 0:01:58.720
<v Speaker 1>they do work, will revolutionize the research area. She then thought,

0:01:58.880 --> 0:02:02.080
<v Speaker 1>and I quote, this project has to be totally crazy,

0:02:02.320 --> 0:02:06.040
<v Speaker 1>like trying to detect animal DNA by vacuuming air. She

0:02:06.120 --> 0:02:07.920
<v Speaker 1>got the money for the project and we were able

0:02:07.960 --> 0:02:11.080
<v Speaker 1>to try it out. Don't worry, this is not a

0:02:11.080 --> 0:02:14.960
<v Speaker 1>case where one team is fighting against the other for credit. Indeed,

0:02:15.000 --> 0:02:18.440
<v Speaker 1>the fact that they were independently successful validates both studies.

0:02:19.240 --> 0:02:22.079
<v Speaker 1>It turns out that animal DNA is all over the place,

0:02:22.360 --> 0:02:26.000
<v Speaker 1>and knowing this can be a helpful conservation measure, especially

0:02:26.000 --> 0:02:31.239
<v Speaker 1>where both endangered and invasive species are concerned. Claire's team

0:02:31.280 --> 0:02:34.600
<v Speaker 1>collected environmental DNA at the Hammerton's Zoo Park in the

0:02:34.760 --> 0:02:38.359
<v Speaker 1>UK using a low powered pump fitted with a filter.

0:02:39.120 --> 0:02:42.000
<v Speaker 1>She said, it's a bit like making coffee. We hope

0:02:42.040 --> 0:02:45.680
<v Speaker 1>the air goes through and the DNA is caught. Of course,

0:02:45.720 --> 0:02:48.200
<v Speaker 1>with a coffee maker, the water goes through the filter

0:02:48.360 --> 0:02:52.799
<v Speaker 1>and the grounds are caught. The team detected twenty five

0:02:52.840 --> 0:02:56.320
<v Speaker 1>different species of animals, such as tigers, lemurs, and dingoes.

0:02:56.760 --> 0:03:00.560
<v Speaker 1>They even collected environmental DNA from animals d of meters

0:03:00.560 --> 0:03:04.359
<v Speaker 1>away from their testing site. The Copenhagen team also used

0:03:04.400 --> 0:03:07.639
<v Speaker 1>filters attached to blower fans at the Copenhagen Zoo in Denmark,

0:03:08.120 --> 0:03:11.120
<v Speaker 1>but in another sample opted for a water based vacuum

0:03:11.200 --> 0:03:14.040
<v Speaker 1>that sucked up the air particles, then filtered the water

0:03:14.160 --> 0:03:17.880
<v Speaker 1>to retain the DNA. Through these methods, the team found

0:03:17.919 --> 0:03:22.680
<v Speaker 1>evidence of forty nine animal species in the area, including fish, birds, reptiles,

0:03:22.720 --> 0:03:27.320
<v Speaker 1>amphibians and mammals. Both the English and Danish teams also

0:03:27.400 --> 0:03:31.800
<v Speaker 1>picked up the environmental DNA of chickens, cows, horses, and fish,

0:03:31.800 --> 0:03:34.240
<v Speaker 1>which are used for food for the zoo animals, as

0:03:34.280 --> 0:03:37.360
<v Speaker 1>well as environmental DNA from animals that lived outside the zoo,

0:03:37.520 --> 0:03:41.080
<v Speaker 1>like squirrels and hedgehogs. The results of both studies were

0:03:41.080 --> 0:03:46.040
<v Speaker 1>published separately in the journal Cell Biology. At this point,

0:03:46.080 --> 0:03:48.400
<v Speaker 1>you might be asking yourself if this is more than

0:03:48.560 --> 0:03:51.840
<v Speaker 1>just a cool party trick, but the potential is huge

0:03:51.960 --> 0:03:56.880
<v Speaker 1>for animal conservation efforts. Lingo said. By having a new

0:03:56.920 --> 0:03:59.760
<v Speaker 1>method that allows us to monitor vertebrates in a non

0:03:59.760 --> 0:04:03.040
<v Speaker 1>and ace of way, we can hopefully help monitor invasive

0:04:03.080 --> 0:04:07.000
<v Speaker 1>species and even endangered species that are sometimes difficult to

0:04:07.040 --> 0:04:10.840
<v Speaker 1>monitor due to their low population density. It'll be a

0:04:10.840 --> 0:04:13.960
<v Speaker 1>minute before this really takes off in conservation circles, though,

0:04:14.080 --> 0:04:19.159
<v Speaker 1>because environmental DNA research is still in its relative infancy. First,

0:04:19.240 --> 0:04:22.800
<v Speaker 1>the Copenhagen team wants to repeat the experiment in different areas.

0:04:22.839 --> 0:04:27.200
<v Speaker 1>Since their initial experiment was done inside a zoo, Lingo said,

0:04:27.480 --> 0:04:29.720
<v Speaker 1>we expect that it will also be possible to do

0:04:29.760 --> 0:04:31.880
<v Speaker 1>it everywhere, but that is the next thing to do.

0:04:32.160 --> 0:04:36.279
<v Speaker 1>We want to know what happens in nature. At this point,

0:04:36.360 --> 0:04:40.719
<v Speaker 1>it's unclear how animal DNA gets into the air. Claire

0:04:40.760 --> 0:04:44.279
<v Speaker 1>said it may be any source of biological material. U

0:04:44.279 --> 0:04:48.080
<v Speaker 1>sloft off skin cells, bits of hair, feces urine, even

0:04:48.200 --> 0:04:52.760
<v Speaker 1>from breathing out. Potentially, we simply do not know. Environmental

0:04:52.839 --> 0:04:56.240
<v Speaker 1>DNA is only defined as any DNA we collect that's

0:04:56.240 --> 0:04:59.159
<v Speaker 1>not directly from a tissue source. We have no idea

0:04:59.279 --> 0:05:02.400
<v Speaker 1>how far it can travel, how quickly it accumulates, how

0:05:02.440 --> 0:05:06.240
<v Speaker 1>fast it degrades, and what weather or location factors might

0:05:06.279 --> 0:05:09.760
<v Speaker 1>alter this. Further tests, she says, we'll flush out the

0:05:09.760 --> 0:05:13.360
<v Speaker 1>concept to a much greater degree. Quote this will help

0:05:13.440 --> 0:05:16.320
<v Speaker 1>us figure out how we can actually deploy this method

0:05:16.320 --> 0:05:27.080
<v Speaker 1>in the real world to sample biodiversity. Today's episode is

0:05:27.120 --> 0:05:30.680
<v Speaker 1>based on the article scientists can suck animal DNA literally

0:05:30.720 --> 0:05:33.040
<v Speaker 1>out of thin air on how stuff works dot Com,

0:05:33.040 --> 0:05:35.720
<v Speaker 1>written by Leo Hoyt. Brain Stuff is production of by

0:05:35.720 --> 0:05:37.960
<v Speaker 1>Heart Radio in partnership with how stuff works dot Com.

0:05:38.080 --> 0:05:40.920
<v Speaker 1>It was produced by Tyler Clang. Four more podcasts It's

0:05:40.920 --> 0:05:43.040
<v Speaker 1>from my heart Radio, visit the i Heart Radio app,

0:05:43.160 --> 0:05:45.840
<v Speaker 1>Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.