DNA library "a game-changer" to improve environmental monitoring in Australia
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E-mail Xinhua, October 5, 2022
CANBERRA, Oct. 5 (Xinhua) -- Australia's national science agency has announced it will create a DNA library of every known native species as "a game-changer" to improve environmental monitoring.
The National Biodiversity DNA Library (NBDL), revealed by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) on Wednesday, aims to document the DNA reference sequences of every known Australian animal and plant species.
The data will be collected through environmental DNA (eDNA) analysis, which allows species to be cataloged from traces left in their environments.
Jenny Giles, director of the NBDL, said the technique has the potential to revolutionize biodiversity monitoring.
"Monitoring biodiversity and detecting pests are extremely important, but it's hard to do and is expensive in a country as large as Australia. eDNA surveys could change that by allowing us to detect animals, plants and other organisms from traces of DNA left behind in the environment, but only if we can reliably assign this DNA to species," she said in a statement.
"eDNA surveys are increasingly being used to detect and monitor species, but only a tiny fraction of Australian species have sufficient reference data available to support this approach. This means most eDNA we collect can't currently be assigned to a species."
She said the NBDL aims to provide this missing data through an open access online portal, which will allow Australian state and federal governments, industry and researchers to take full advantage of this technique to describe and detect changes in the environment.
The first species added to the library are expected to be some fish and others including whales, turtles and aquatic birds, with eDNA analysis already being undertaken by the Minderoo Foundation.
The foundation, which was founded by mining magnate Andrew Forrest, has partnered with the CSIRO to fund the first part of the library.
"We're proud to support this powerful conservation tool - the surveillance of marine ecosystems using eDNA provides an exciting and non-invasive means to measure biodiversity and monitor the health of our oceans," Steve Burnell, Minderoo Foundation director of the OceanOmics program, said. Enditem
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