Molecular assays to reliably detect and quantify predation on a forest pest in bats faeces

Autor: Unai Baroja, Inazio Garin, Nerea Vallejo, Amaia Caro, Carlos Ibáñez, Andrea Basso, Urtzi Goiti
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2022
Předmět:
Zdroj: Scientific Reports, Vol 12, Iss 1, Pp 1-10 (2022)
Druh dokumentu: article
ISSN: 2045-2322
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-06195-7
Popis: Abstract Targeted molecular methods such as conventional PCR (cPCR) and quantitative PCR (qPCR), combined with species-specific primers and probes, are widely applied for pest species detection. Besides, the potential of qPCR to quantify DNA in samples makes it an invaluable molecular tool to infer the predation levels on specific prey by analysing predators’ stools. Nevertheless, studies on the diet of bats failed to find any empirical relationship, and it remains to be evaluated. Thus, we developed and evaluated two species-specific PCR assays to detect and quantify DNA of a major forest pest, the pine processionary, Thaumetopoea pityocampa, in bats’ faeces. Further, we empirically compared a range of different known DNA concentrations (input) of the target species mixed with mocks and bat faecal samples against DNA abundances yielded by qPCR (output) for a quantitative assessment. Overall, cPCR showed a lower detection rate than qPCR, but augmenting the replicate effort from one to three replicates led to a greater increase in the detection rate of the cPCR (from 57 to 80%) than the qPCR (from 90 to 99%). The quantitative experiment results showed a highly significant correlation between the input and output DNA concentrations (t = 10.84, p
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