Science Daily May 15, 2023 The field of environmental DNA (eDNA) is advancing rapidly, yet human eDNA applications remain underutilized and under considered. An international team of researchers (USA – University of Florida, Spain) showed that deep-sequencing-based eDNA approaches capture genomic information from humans just as readily as that from the intended target species. They called it human genetic bycatch (HGB). The high-quality human eDNA could be intentionally recovered from environmental substrates (water, sand, and air), holding promise for beneficial medical, forensic, and environmental applications. However, this also raises ethical dilemmas, from consent, privacy, and surveillance to data ownership, requiring […]
Tag Archives: Environmental DNA
New tool to combat terrorism
EurekAlert November 19, 2020 Environmental samples serve as ideal forms of contact trace evidence as detection at a scene can establish a link between a suspect, location, and victim. Translation of these tools to forensic science remains in its infancy, due in part to the merging of traditional forensic ecology practices with unfamiliar DNA technologies and complex datasets, biomass environmental signals carried by people and objects. However, the sensitivity, and reducing cost, of MPS is now unlocking the power of both high and low biomass environmental DNA (eDNA) samples as useful sources of genetic information in forensic science. Researchers in […]