Welcome to Brainstuff production of I Heart Radio. Hey, Brainstuff, Lauren Volga Baum. Here. You know that DNA, the molecule in cells that contains our unique genetic code, is inside of animals, but you might not have known that it was floating around in the air. Neither did most scientists until a recent study was published. For the article of this episode is based on how Stuff Work, spoke with the lead author of the studying question, Dr Elizabeth Claire,
who's an ecologist at York University in Toronto, Canada. She explained, I had been asked to write a document on how environmental DNA can be used to monitor biodiversity in the future. I listed soil, snow, rain, honey, even spraying foliage and collecting the water that runs off. I then said and air, and went looking for a case study I could describe.
I was very surprised that there really were none. She earned The Queen Mary University of London, where Claire was affiliated at the time, had a funding source for high risk, high reward ideas, and she proposed a project on sampling environmental DNA also called e d N A in the air. She said, we were surprised to see that people were talking about it, but it had not been tried, so we decided we should do it ourselves. At the same time as Claire's study, a similar study was being carried
out at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark. Has to Works also spoke by email with Dr Christina Lingo, whose name I hope I'm pronouncing correctly, study author and a researcher there who says her fellow University of Copenhagen researcher Christine Bouman, came up with the idea. Lingo said she wanted to apply for a Danish research grant called Velam Experiment, which supports crazy projects that may not work, but if
they do work, will revolutionize the research area. She then thought, and I quote, this project has to be totally crazy, like trying to detect animal DNA by vacuuming air. She got the money for the project and we were able to try it out. Don't worry, this is not a case where one team is fighting against the other for credit. Indeed, the fact that they were independently successful validates both studies.
It turns out that animal DNA is all over the place, and knowing this can be a helpful conservation measure, especially where both endangered and invasive species are concerned. Claire's team collected environmental DNA at the Hammerton's Zoo Park in the UK using a low powered pump fitted with a filter. She said, it's a bit like making coffee. We hope the air goes through and the DNA is caught. Of course, with a coffee maker, the water goes through the filter
and the grounds are caught. The team detected twenty five different species of animals, such as tigers, lemurs, and dingoes. They even collected environmental DNA from animals d of meters away from their testing site. The Copenhagen team also used filters attached to blower fans at the Copenhagen Zoo in Denmark, but in another sample opted for a water based vacuum that sucked up the air particles, then filtered the water
to retain the DNA. Through these methods, the team found evidence of forty nine animal species in the area, including fish, birds, reptiles, amphibians and mammals. Both the English and Danish teams also picked up the environmental DNA of chickens, cows, horses, and fish, which are used for food for the zoo animals, as well as environmental DNA from animals that lived outside the zoo, like squirrels and hedgehogs. The results of both studies were
published separately in the journal Cell Biology. At this point, you might be asking yourself if this is more than just a cool party trick, but the potential is huge for animal conservation efforts. Lingo said. By having a new method that allows us to monitor vertebrates in a non and ace of way, we can hopefully help monitor invasive species and even endangered species that are sometimes difficult to
monitor due to their low population density. It'll be a minute before this really takes off in conservation circles, though, because environmental DNA research is still in its relative infancy. First, the Copenhagen team wants to repeat the experiment in different areas. Since their initial experiment was done inside a zoo, Lingo said, we expect that it will also be possible to do it everywhere, but that is the next thing to do. We want to know what happens in nature. At this point,
it's unclear how animal DNA gets into the air. Claire said it may be any source of biological material. U sloft off skin cells, bits of hair, feces urine, even from breathing out. Potentially, we simply do not know. Environmental DNA is only defined as any DNA we collect that's not directly from a tissue source. We have no idea how far it can travel, how quickly it accumulates, how fast it degrades, and what weather or location factors might
alter this. Further tests, she says, we'll flush out the concept to a much greater degree. Quote this will help us figure out how we can actually deploy this method in the real world to sample biodiversity. Today's episode is based on the article scientists can suck animal DNA literally out of thin air on how stuff works dot Com, written by Leo Hoyt. Brain Stuff is production of by Heart Radio in partnership with how stuff works dot Com.
It was produced by Tyler Clang. Four more podcasts It's from my heart Radio, visit the i Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.