CoastCheck: Establishment of robust eDNA assays to assess organic pollution impacts on infaunal macrobenthic invertebrate communities in coastal waters of British Columbia

省级和联邦授权的废水和环境影响监测项目要求对生活在海底软沉积物中的海洋无脊椎动物群落的健康状况进行评估。20多年来，Biologica一直使用传统的分类和视觉分类方法为政府和行业提供分类鉴定服务。然而，这种方法非常耗时、成本高，而且在技术上具有挑战性。有必要扩大和提高监测这些无脊椎动物的可靠性。所有活着的有机体都是由它们的遗传物质定义的，这种DNA被释放到环境中。这种“环境DNA(EDNA)”可以通过对水和沉积物样本进行灵敏和准确的分子测试来检测。该项目的总体目标是开发基于EDNA的强有力的、有针对性的测试，以评估有机污染对生活在海洋地区沉积物中的无脊椎动物的影响。CRD项目结合了学术界(维多利亚大学)、工业界(生物)和废水管理服务提供商(维多利亚州首府地区和大温哥华排污和排水地区)的专业知识，以解决两个主要目标：1)开发和验证EDNA测试，以验证感兴趣的无脊椎动物物种的验证标本；2)为海洋沿海社区使用海底沉积物中的无脊椎动物评估有机污染影响创建可靠、标准化的EDNA现场采样方法。这将通过三个具体的目标来实现：1)从经过验证的样本中获得高质量的DNA序列；2)为选定的无脊椎动物开发和验证EDNA测试；以及3)将EDNA测试应用于现实世界的场景。这些新的EDNA工具的常规应用将彻底改变分类服务行业以及如何评估废水的环境影响。

Provincially- and federally-mandated programs for wastewater and environmental effects monitoring require an assessment of the health of marine invertebrate communities that live in the soft sediments at the sea bottom. Biologica has provided taxonomic identification services for government and industry for over 20 years using traditional sorting and visual classification methods. However, this approach is very time-consuming, costly, and technically challenging. There is a need to expand and improve upon the reliability of monitoring these invertebrates. All living organisms are defined by their genetic material and this DNA is released into the environment. This "environmental DNA (eDNA)" can be detected using sensitive and accurate molecular tests on water and sediment samples. The overall project goal is to develop robust, targeted eDNA-based tests to assess the impact of organic pollution on invertebrates that live in sediments of marine areas. The CRD project combines the expertise of academic (University of Victoria), industry (Biologica), and wastewater management service providers (the Capital Regional District of Victoria and the Greater Vancouver Sewerage and Drainage District) to address two main objectives: 1) to develop and validate eDNA tests for verified specimens of invertebrate species of interest, and 2) to create a robust, standardized eDNA field sampling approach for marine coastal community assessments of organic pollution impacts using invertebrates that live in sea bottom sediments. This will be accomplished in three specific aims: 1) to obtain high quality DNA sequences from verified specimens, 2) to develop and validate eDNA tests for select invertebrates, and 3) to apply the eDNA tests in real-world scenarios. The routine application of these new eDNA tools will revolutionize the taxonomy service industry and how environmental impacts of wastewater are assessed.