I-Corps: Non-invasive DNA testing of chromosomal markers

这个i-Corps项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是使用新的和非侵入性DNA测试方法的组合来识别爬行动物的染色体标记。这种方法的主要目标是为兽医、动物园和野生动物研究人员提供一个实用的商业解决方案，以确定爬行动物个体的遗传特征，这些特征对于健康治疗提供、圈养繁殖和种群结构分析至关重要。该提案特别探讨了圈养和野生爬行动物兽医和繁殖部门尚未满足的服务功能，以提高治疗的准确性、效率和成功率，并产生更好的知情和更一致的客户基础。这项拟议的产品将允许兽医和其他人使用非侵入性DNA收集方法来收集遗传物质，进而获得关于单个爬行动物染色体结构的准确结果。这个i-Corps项目将利用新的基因技术和非侵入性DNA采样的组合，以识别爬行动物中与生理和行为相关的染色体标记，重点是非鸟类的鳞片动物。鸟类爬行动物染色体标记的遗传测序是一种直接的科学和商业上已经可用的程序，而非鸟类爬行动物具有高度可变的染色体决定机制，从温度依赖到基于序列的染色体分配。因此，即使在蜥蜴和蛇的密切相关谱系中，用于某一物种的遗传评估的协议也可能不适用于其他物种。这里开发的技术通过利用一种新的基于定量聚合酶链式反应(QPCR)的方法来识别特定爬行动物染色体中的基因拷贝数，从而解决了这一问题。一种定量遗传学解决方案将确定4000多种蜥蜴和蛇的染色体身份，并将其与各种非侵入性DNA收集和提取技术的专业知识相结合。建议的新方案组合已经被验证，能够唯一地评估各种爬行动物潜在的生理和行为特征的分子标记。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is to use a combination of novel and non-invasive DNA testing methods to identify chromosomal markers in reptiles. The main goal of this approach is to generate a practical and commercial solution for veterinarians, zoos, and wildlife researchers to identify individual reptiles' genetic traits, which are critical for health-treatment delivery, captive breeding, and population structure analyses. This proposal specifically explores an unmet service functionality within the captive and wild reptilian veterinary and propagation sectors to increase accuracy, efficiency, and success of treatment and to generate a better informed and more consistent customer basis. The proposed product will allow veterinarians and others to use a non-invasive DNA collection method to gather genetic material and, in turn, to receive accurate results on the chromosomal structure of individual reptiles.This I-Corps project will capitalize on a combination of novel genetic techniques with non-invasive DNA sampling to allow for the identification of physiologically and behaviorally relevant chromosomal markers in reptiles, focusing on non-avian squamates. Genetic sequencing of chromosomal markers in avian reptiles is a straightforward scientific and commercially already available procedure, whereas non-avian reptiles possess highly variable chromosomal determination mechanisms, from temperature-dependence through sequence-based chromosomal assignment. Thus, even within the closely related lineages of lizards and snakes, protocols used for genetic assessment in one species may not work in other species. The technology developed here solves this by utilizing a new quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) based approach to identify gene-copy number in specific reptilian chromosomes. A quantitative genetics solution will determine chromosomal identity for over 4000 species of lizards and snakes and combine it with expertise in diverse non-invasive DNA collection and extraction techniques. The proposed novel combination of protocols has been validated to uniquely enable the assessment of the molecular markers of potential physiological and behavioral traits in a broad diversity of reptiles.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.