SGER: DNA Thermal Profiling: A New Technique in Conservation Genetics

9528152佩林为了保护野生动物，重要的是能够识别用于圈养繁殖计划的单个动物，并评估濒危物种的种群。已经开发了几种方法来为这类分析产生分子“指纹”。随着生物多样性的迅速减少，快速有效的检测生物分子(如DNA)的方法变得越来越重要。佩林博士开发了一种名为DNA热分析的简单技术。这项技术分析了生物体的DNA是如何融化的。初步证据表明，每个个体或物种可能都有独特的融化轮廓。这项技术绕过了目前许多实验室使用的更繁琐和昂贵的方法。新方法在技术上也更简单，生成数据的时间更短。此外，所需的DNA量很小(100-200纳克)，而且使用的是总基因组DNA，而不是一小部分选定的DNA。因此，它具有在整个测试生物的基因组中检测和利用微异质性的优势。因此，它可能会产生生物体的真正DNA“指纹”。佩林博士将DNA热图谱应用于红翼黑鸟、古巴鳄鱼和鳄鱼的研究。他建议确定这项技术的遗传基础，从而进一步加强其有效性。从有良好家谱的动物(如赛马和小猎犬)获得的数据将被检查孟德尔遗传模式。此外，还将研究在动物园或繁育设施中饲养的濒危动物的种群，以确定这项技术是否可以有效地用于此类种群分析。尽可能地，通过DNA热剖析获得的所有数据将与已经建立的DNA指纹和种群研究方法获得的数据进行比较。佩林博士主要感兴趣的是研究这种新的、可能令人兴奋的环境生物学方法的局限性。如果该方法是稳健的，这项研究的结果可以证明DNA热图谱是一种快速、简单的DNA指纹分析方法，对保护生物学家和人工饲养计划具有特别重要的意义。

9528152 PERLIN For purposes of wildlife conservation it is important to be able to identify individual animals to be used in captive breeding programs and to assess populations of endangered species. Several methods have been developed to produce molecular "fingerprints" for such analyses. With the rapid decrease of biodiversity, quick and effective methods of assaying biological molecules (such as DNA) are important. Dr. Perlin has developed a simple technique called DNA thermal profiling. The technique employs analysis of how an organism's DNA melts. Initial evidence indicates that each individual or species may have a unique melting profile. This technique circumvents the more tedious and costly methods currently in use in many labs. The new method is also technically simpler and data can be generated in less time. Furthermore, the amount of DNA required is small (100-200 ng) and total genomic DNA is used as opposed to small, selected portions. Thus, it has the advantage of detecting and utilizing microheterogeneities throughout the test organisms' genomes. It may thus produce a true DNA "fingerprint" of the organism. Dr. Perlin has applied DNA thermal profiling to the study of redwing blackbirds, Cuban crocodiles, and alligators. He proposes to determine the genetic basis of the technique and thereby further strengthen its validity. The data obtained from animals with well-established pedigrees (e.g., racehorses and beagles) will be examined for Mendelian patterns of inheritance. In addition, populations of endangered animals maintained in zoos or breeding facilities will be studied to determine whether this technique can be used effectively for such population analyses. As much as possible, all data obtained with DNA thermal profiling will be compared with that obtained by already-established methods for DNA fingerprinting and population studies. Dr. Perlin is primarily interested in studying the limits of this new and potentially exciting method in environmental biology. If the method is robust, the results of this study could demonstrate that DNA thermal profiling is a quick and simple method for DNA fingerprinting with particular significance for conservation biologists and captive breeding programs.