Finding the pond through the weeds: eDNA reveals underestimated diversity of pondweeds.

ABSTRACT:

Premise of the study

The detection of environmental DNA (eDNA) using high-throughput sequencing has rapidly emerged as a method to detect organisms from environmental samples. However, eDNA studies of aquatic biomes have focused on surveillance of animal species with less emphasis on plants. Pondweeds are important bioindicators of freshwater ecosystems, although their diversity is underestimated due to difficulties in morphological identification and monitoring.

Methods

A protocol was developed to detect pondweeds in water samples using atpB-rbcL and ITS2 markers. The water samples were collected from the Grand River within the rare Charitable Research Reserve, Ontario (RARE). Short fragments were amplified using primers targeting pondweeds, sequenced on an Io

SUBMITTER: Kuzmina ML 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5991581 | biostudies-literature | 2018 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature