Effect of temperature and humidity on insect DNA integrity evaluated by real-time PCR.

ABSTRACT: Insects collected in dry traps can degrade rapidly, especially in warm, humid environments where many biodiversity and biosecurity surveillance activities are undertaken. Degradation can severely impact diagnostics, as trap catches can become difficult to identify to species level using morphological characters or, of increasing importance, molecular approaches. This is especially problematic for biosecurity surveillance of exotic tephritid fruit flies, where diagnostics are heavily reliant on morphological characters. We tested the effects of differing temperature and humidity conditions on mock samples of tephritid fruit flies in a controlled environment and compared our results to field trap catches. DNA degradation was quantified using real-time PCR assays, including one assay newly de

SUBMITTER: Fowler EV 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11473036 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature