Danish researchers claim to have found a way to trace the occupants of marine animals using DNA tests on samples of sea water. The findings appear in a study published in the August 29, 2012 in the journal PLoS ONE.
"We can track all animals under the sea around the world, monitor, protect the ocean and its resources better," said Philip Francis Thomsen, post-doctoral researcher at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark.
Previously, Thomsen found samples of fresh water from rivers and lakes that contain genetic markers of several different animals. It was also found in sea water. In one study, Thomsen and his colleagues found the DNA of 15 species of fish in just half a liter of seawater. "We found the DNA of fish large and small, common and rare species. Fish cod, herring, sardines, eel, and many others who left traces of DNA in sea water," Thomsen said, as quoted by LiveScience, (on Monday/September 3, 2012).
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The European plaice (Pleuronectes platessa) was among the 15 species of fish that the researchers found DNA from in the seawater. They obtained DNA from both common species and rare guests. (Picture from: http://www.sciencedaily.com/)
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In another study, they showed that the genetic material of dolphins (Phocoena phocoena) appeared in the western Baltic Sea water samples. "This means that a large marine mammals can also be tracked with this method," he said.
The problem is to search for the dolphins takes hard work. Thomsen DNA methods are not reliable as acoustic detection methods commonly used.
But the method can record the genetic material DNA of endangered species contained in water samples. This can not be done by an acoustic detection method that relies on sound recordings. "We also detect long fin pilot whales Globicephala melas, a species rarely seen in the Baltic," the researchers wrote.
Thomsen believes the optimization method, the volume of sea water for processing larger, can be used to detect all species of marine mammals. *** [LIVESCIENCE | MAHARDIKA SATRIA HADI | KORAN TEMPO 3986]
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