Photo credit Earlham Institute
Hear how scientists at the Earlham Institute and the Natural History Museum, London, are using samples collected from an AirPrep Cub Sampler to collect eDNA and perform DNA sequencing to detect the presence of plant pathogens as an early warning system for agriculture.
The Earlham Institute is helping growers achieve more sustainable and cost-effective crop production through the use of AirPrep samplers. Since 2015, the institute has been developing AirSeq technology, which combines AirPrep Samplers, advanced DNA sequencing with fast, sensitive bioinformatics software. This cutting-edge technology can detect any biological agent without bias, and its future applications are vast.
“We're hoping that we can give farmers a bit more knowledge so they are more aware of what is in the air and if it's at high levels. That's where the Air-seq method comes in. We start by collecting DNA out of the air - people might not be aware of this, but all sorts of DNA is in the air. You have human skin particles, bits of pollen, but also bits of fungal spores which could cause diseases on those plants. - So we use an air sampler and all of that stuff that's floating around in the air, all those particles, are trapped onto a filter. And from that filter we can take all of that DNA, break all of the cells open and then we sequence the DNA”
InnovaPrep’s FluidPrep™ and AirPrep™ concentration tools support diverse research fields, empowering scientists to achieve longer, more abundant sequencing reads for detecting mutations, variants, subspecies, and strains from air, surface, and liquid samples—whether for targeted or shotgun sequencing applications.
Hear the Podcast on The Naked Scientist June 21st 2024, Interview with Mia Berelson, Earlham Institute
