Geographic source estimation using airborne plant environmental DNA in dust

Abstract Information obtained from the analysis of dust, particularly biological particles such as pollen, plant parts, and fungal spores, has great utility in forensic geolocation. As an alternative to manual microscopic analysis of dust components, we developed a pipeline that utilizes the airborn...

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Autores principales: Chelsea Lennartz, Joel Kurucar, Stephen Coppola, Janice Crager, Johanna Bobrow, Laura Bortolin, James Comolli
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Lenguaje:EN
Publicado: Nature Portfolio 2021
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Acceso en línea:https://doaj.org/article/69aeba7e27b64fb7904788a09ce101dc
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spelling oai:doaj.org-article:69aeba7e27b64fb7904788a09ce101dc2021-12-02T19:06:38ZGeographic source estimation using airborne plant environmental DNA in dust10.1038/s41598-021-95702-32045-2322https://doaj.org/article/69aeba7e27b64fb7904788a09ce101dc2021-08-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-95702-3https://doaj.org/toc/2045-2322Abstract Information obtained from the analysis of dust, particularly biological particles such as pollen, plant parts, and fungal spores, has great utility in forensic geolocation. As an alternative to manual microscopic analysis of dust components, we developed a pipeline that utilizes the airborne plant environmental DNA (eDNA) in settled dust to estimate geographic origin. Metabarcoding of settled airborne eDNA was used to identify plant species whose geographic distributions were then derived from occurrence records in the USGS Biodiversity in Service of Our Nation (BISON) database. The distributions for all plant species identified in a sample were used to generate a probabilistic estimate of the sample source. With settled dust collected at four U.S. sites over a 15-month period, we demonstrated positive regional geolocation (within 600 km2 of the collection point) with 47.6% (20 of 42) of the samples analyzed. Attribution accuracy and resolution was dependent on the number of plant species identified in a dust sample, which was greatly affected by the season of collection. In dust samples that yielded a minimum of 20 identified plant species, positive regional attribution was achieved with 66.7% (16 of 24 samples). For broader demonstration, citizen-collected dust samples collected from 31 diverse U.S. sites were analyzed, and trace plant eDNA provided relevant regional attribution information on provenance in 32.2% of samples. This showed that analysis of airborne plant eDNA in settled dust can provide an accurate estimate regional provenance within the U.S., and relevant forensic information, for a substantial fraction of samples analyzed.Chelsea LennartzJoel KurucarStephen CoppolaJanice CragerJohanna BobrowLaura BortolinJames ComolliNature PortfolioarticleMedicineRScienceQENScientific Reports, Vol 11, Iss 1, Pp 1-12 (2021)
institution DOAJ
collection DOAJ
language EN
topic Medicine
R
Science
Q
spellingShingle Medicine
R
Science
Q
Chelsea Lennartz
Joel Kurucar
Stephen Coppola
Janice Crager
Johanna Bobrow
Laura Bortolin
James Comolli
Geographic source estimation using airborne plant environmental DNA in dust
description Abstract Information obtained from the analysis of dust, particularly biological particles such as pollen, plant parts, and fungal spores, has great utility in forensic geolocation. As an alternative to manual microscopic analysis of dust components, we developed a pipeline that utilizes the airborne plant environmental DNA (eDNA) in settled dust to estimate geographic origin. Metabarcoding of settled airborne eDNA was used to identify plant species whose geographic distributions were then derived from occurrence records in the USGS Biodiversity in Service of Our Nation (BISON) database. The distributions for all plant species identified in a sample were used to generate a probabilistic estimate of the sample source. With settled dust collected at four U.S. sites over a 15-month period, we demonstrated positive regional geolocation (within 600 km2 of the collection point) with 47.6% (20 of 42) of the samples analyzed. Attribution accuracy and resolution was dependent on the number of plant species identified in a dust sample, which was greatly affected by the season of collection. In dust samples that yielded a minimum of 20 identified plant species, positive regional attribution was achieved with 66.7% (16 of 24 samples). For broader demonstration, citizen-collected dust samples collected from 31 diverse U.S. sites were analyzed, and trace plant eDNA provided relevant regional attribution information on provenance in 32.2% of samples. This showed that analysis of airborne plant eDNA in settled dust can provide an accurate estimate regional provenance within the U.S., and relevant forensic information, for a substantial fraction of samples analyzed.
format article
author Chelsea Lennartz
Joel Kurucar
Stephen Coppola
Janice Crager
Johanna Bobrow
Laura Bortolin
James Comolli
author_facet Chelsea Lennartz
Joel Kurucar
Stephen Coppola
Janice Crager
Johanna Bobrow
Laura Bortolin
James Comolli
author_sort Chelsea Lennartz
title Geographic source estimation using airborne plant environmental DNA in dust
title_short Geographic source estimation using airborne plant environmental DNA in dust
title_full Geographic source estimation using airborne plant environmental DNA in dust
title_fullStr Geographic source estimation using airborne plant environmental DNA in dust
title_full_unstemmed Geographic source estimation using airborne plant environmental DNA in dust
title_sort geographic source estimation using airborne plant environmental dna in dust
publisher Nature Portfolio
publishDate 2021
url https://doaj.org/article/69aeba7e27b64fb7904788a09ce101dc
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AT janicecrager geographicsourceestimationusingairborneplantenvironmentaldnaindust
AT johannabobrow geographicsourceestimationusingairborneplantenvironmentaldnaindust
AT laurabortolin geographicsourceestimationusingairborneplantenvironmentaldnaindust
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