Hoffmann Constanze, Schubert Grit, Calvignac-Spencer Sébastien
Epidemiology of Highly Pathogenic Microorganisms, Robert Koch-Institute, Seestrasse 10, 13353, Berlin, Germany.
Surveillance of Neglected Zoonotic Diseases in Sub-Saharan Africa, Robert Koch-Institute, Seestrasse 10, 13353, Berlin, Germany.
Mol Ecol. 2016 Feb;25(4):846-8. doi: 10.1111/mec.13535.
The world is covered in DNA. In any ecosystem, extracellular DNA fragments can be found that once formed the genomes of a variety of micro- and macroorganisms. A few years ago, it was proposed to use this environmental DNA (eDNA) as a source of information on local vertebrate biodiversity (Ficetola et al. 2008; Taberlet et al. 2012). This idea offered an elegant solution to take up the gauntlet of rapidly increasing monitoring needs. Coupled with barcoding efforts, it promised to be cost-efficient in many respects, for example man-hours and taxonomic expertise. Ecologists and conservation biologists with an interest in aquatic ecosystems have enthusiastically adopted and pioneered this new method, producing dozens of eDNA studies. Most of these studies have, however, focused on a single or a few aquatic species. In this issue of Molecular Ecology, Valentini et al. (2016) move the field a step further by demonstrating that metabarcoding approaches - which simultaneously target large groups of organisms such as amphibians or fish - can match and sometimes even outperform other inventory methods.
DNA遍布全球。在任何生态系统中，都能发现细胞外DNA片段，这些片段曾经构成了各种微生物和大型生物的基因组。几年前，有人提议将这种环境DNA（eDNA）用作获取当地脊椎动物生物多样性信息的来源（菲塞托拉等人，2008年；塔贝莱等人，2012年）。这一想法为应对快速增长的监测需求提供了一个巧妙的解决方案。与条形码技术相结合，它有望在许多方面具有成本效益，比如工时和分类学专业知识。对水生生态系统感兴趣的生态学家和保护生物学家热情地采用并开创了这种新方法，开展了数十项eDNA研究。然而，这些研究大多集中在单一或少数水生物种上。在本期《分子生态学》中，瓦伦蒂尼等人（2016年）通过证明元条形码方法——同时针对两栖动物或鱼类等大型生物群体——能够与其他清查方法相匹配，甚至在某些情况下表现更优，从而使该领域向前迈进了一步。
