Trash to treasure: assessing viability of wing biopsies for use in bat genetic research

Author

Mary Beth Manjerovic
Michelle L. Green
Andrew N. Miller

Files

Publication Date

January 2015

Abstract

The outbreak of white-nose syndrome in North American bats has resulted in massive data collection efforts to characterize the fungus, Pseudogymnoascus destructans. Wing biopsies routinely are collected from live bats, placed in agar media to culture the fungus, and ultimately discarded. We tested whether these discarded tissues represent a viable source of host bat DNA. We found no difference in DNA concentration and no reduction of DNA quality between samples that were extracted immediately compared to samples placed in agar for fungal culture. Although recovered quantities were low, concentrations increased using a cleanup kit. Our study suggests samples collected from live bats can be leveraged across disciplines to further our understanding of bat genetics and the impact of white-nose syndrome.

Keywords

White-nose syndrome, Bats, Fungi -- Cultures and culture media

Document Type

Article

Identifier

K26-05074

Recommended Citation

Manjerovic, Mary Beth; Green, Michelle L.; and Miller, Andrew N., "Trash to treasure: assessing viability of wing biopsies for use in bat genetic research" (2015). KIP Articles. 5359.
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/kip_articles/5359