ENVIRONMENTAL DNA Sample Clauses

ENVIRONMENTAL DNA. DNA metabarcoding is a novel technique, which allows taxonomic identification of an organism based on the traces of its DNA released into the environmen.tIt helps to overcome the drawbacks of traditional morpho- -scale metabarcoding study of the Black Sea biodiversity has been performed in the course of EMBLAS projects. Metabarcodingproved to be a promisingtool for Black Sea biodiversityassessment, even though there is a need for further validation of the methodology. High diversity of phytoplankton, zooplankton, fish and zoobenthos has been detected. Importantly, the genera, which include species involved in harmful algal blooms (Gymnodium, Scrippsiella, Alexandrium) were found with 18Ssequencing in considerably high abundance in water samples. The members of these genera have been shown to cause Paralytic shellfishpoisoning(PSP)and Diarrheticshellfishpoisoning(DSP) (Hallegraeff et al., 2003). Bothinvasive and rare fish species have been detected with COI and 12S analysis. For example, Trypauchen vagina occurrence was detected for the first time in the Black Sea waters. Metabarcoding approach appeared to be useful for the detection of high conservation concern species, such as the members of Acipenser genera (sturgeons). Limitations of metabarcoding technique were also identified. The major bottlenecks so far are the scarcity of Black Sea biodiversity sequencing data in the databases and the lack of studies testing specific molecular markers for detection of particular groups of organisms. Therefore, one of the priorities should be barcoding of individual Black Sea species with the purpose to fill this gap. This will make DNA metabarcodinga useful tool for biodiversitymonitoring and invasive speciesdetection. Taking into account the need to develop a common biodiverstiy monitoring platform for theentire Black Sea region, it is highly desirable to start incorporating ▇▇▇▇ approach into monitoring practice. sThis will set the starting point for automation of biodiversity monitoring in the Black Sea region, which in turn will potentially increase the quality and comparability of the data needed for the Initial Assessment and monitoring of MFSD indicators. So far, only metabarcoding species presence-absence data is recommended to be used in data analysis, whereas the estimation of relative abundance is considered unreliable. The data on taxonomic distribution of fish communities should be tested with more specific 12S gene. COI and 18Sshould also be tested fo...