Addressing nontarget amplification in DNA metabarcoding studies of arthropod-feeding rodents.

ABSTRACT: High-throughput sequencing approaches have revolutionized how we study animal diets by enabling the detection of dietary components from the metabarcoding of DNA in excrement. Mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase C subunit I (mtCOI) DNA metabarcoding is commonly used to study the diets of arthropod-feeding animals; however, this approach is susceptible to nontarget amplification of the consumer species mtCOI locus. Nontarget amplification is often an unforeseen complication that can drastically reduce the quality and utility of the results generated by high-throughput amplicon sequencing. By interrogating the diets of new world rodents in the genus Neotoma (woodrats) in both natural and captive settings, we demonstrate that nontarget amplification can drastically reduce the total read a

SUBMITTER: Klure DM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10035264 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature