OPTIMIZING DNA PRESERVATION METHODS FOR MOLECULAR GUT CONTENT ANALYSIS STUDIES IN FIELD COLLECTED GELATINOUS ZOOPLANKTON

Molecular gut content analysis (MGCA) is a commonly utilized approach for assessing the diet of a variety of animal species. MGCA is especially appropriate for assessing the cryptic diets of small consumers including insects and aquatic and marine zooplankton species. MGCA approaches typically involve extracting DNA from the consumer followed by sequence-based identification of non-host DNA. As it is often not practical in remote field conditions to purify and store extracted DNA, preservation for MGCA analysis is often required. In this study the efficacy of two tissue stabilizing solutions containing chaotropic salts were investigated for eventual use in investigating the diets of enigmatic marine pelagic tunicate species whose trophic ecology is poorly understood. In these studies, two commercially available tissue stabilization solutions were investigated and their extraction efficiencies and suitability with commercially available DNA purification protocols explored. Tissue preservation solutions included Zymo Research DNA/RNA Shield™ and Qiagen’s AllprotectTissue Reagent. Initial results suggest that these solutions do not greatly hinder the quality or quantity of DNA extracted from samples after being submerged in either solution. Further experiments incorporating more biological variation are being explored to identify the optimal method for DNA preservation in future MGCA studies in gelatinous zooplankton.

Presentation Preference: Poster

Primary Presenter: Alyssa Fritz, University of Georgia (alyssa.fritz@uga.edu)

Authors:

Alyssa Fritz, University of Georgia  (alyssa.fritz@uga.edu)

Max Braun, University of Georgia  (mbraun98@me.com)

Marc Frischer, University of Georgia  (marc.frischer@skio.uga.edu)