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

9528152柏林 为了保护野生动物，重要的是要能够识别个体动物用于圈养繁殖计划，并评估濒危物种的种群。已经开发了几种方法来产生用于这种分析的分子“指纹”。随着生物多样性的迅速减少，快速有效地测定生物分子（如DNA）的方法非常重要。 柏林博士开发了一种简单的技术，称为DNA热分析。该技术利用生物体DNA如何融化的分析。 初步证据表明，每个个体或物种可能有独特的融化曲线。这种技术避免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，可以在更短的时间内生成数据。 此外，所需的DNA量很小（100-200 ng），并且使用总基因组DNA，而不是小的选定部分。因此，它具有检测和利用整个测试生物体基因组的微异质性的优点。因此，它可以产生生物体的真正DNA“指纹”。 Perlin博士将DNA热分析应用于红翼黑鸟、古巴鳄鱼和短吻鳄的研究。 他建议确定该技术的遗传基础，从而进一步加强其有效性。从具有良好谱系的动物获得的数据（例如，赛马和小猎犬）将检查孟德尔遗传模式。此外，将研究动物园或繁殖设施中饲养的濒危动物的种群，以确定这种技术是否可以有效地用于此类种群分析。将尽可能将用DNA热分析法获得的所有数据与用已确立的DNA指纹和种群研究方法获得的数据进行比较。 Perlin博士主要感兴趣的是研究这种新的和潜在的令人兴奋的方法在环境生物学中的局限性。如果该方法是稳健的，本研究的结果可以证明，DNA热分析是一种快速，简单的DNA指纹分析方法，对保护生物学家和圈养繁殖计划具有特殊意义。

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.