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

I-Corps项目更广泛的影响/商业潜力是使用新型和非侵入性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种实用的商业解决方案，以确定爬行动物个体的遗传特征，这对健康治疗、圈养繁殖和种群结构分析至关重要。本提案特别探讨了圈养和野生爬行动物兽医和繁殖部门未满足的服务功能，以提高治疗的准确性、效率和成功率，并产生更好的信息和更一致的客户基础。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，进而获得个体爬行动物染色体结构的准确结果。这个I-Corps项目将利用新型遗传技术与非侵入性DNA采样的结合，以识别爬行动物的生理和行为相关的染色体标记，重点是非鸟类鳞片。鸟类爬行动物染色体标记的基因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，即使在蜥蜴和蛇的近亲谱系中，用于一个物种的遗传评估的方案可能不适用于其他物种。这里开发的技术解决了这个问题，利用一种新的定量聚合酶链反应（qPCR）为基础的方法来识别特定爬行动物染色体的基因拷贝数。定量遗传学解决方案将确定超过4000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。提出的新方案组合已被验证，以独特地评估潜在的生理和行为特征的分子标记在广泛的爬行动物的多样性。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值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.