
Easily sequenced DNA collected from the environment provides both opportunities and challenges for scientists.
(Todd Osborne)
On the beach. In the ocean. Traveling along riverways. In muggy Florida and chilly Ireland. Even floating through the air.
We cough, spit, shed and flush our DNA into all of these places and countless more. Signs of human life can be found nearly everywhere, short of isolated islands and remote mountaintops, according to a new University of Florida study.
That ubiquity is both a scientific boon and an ethical dilemma, say the UF researchers who sequenced this widespread DNA. The DNA was of such high quality that the scientists could identify mutations associated with disease and determine the genetic ancestry of nearby populations. They could even match genetic information to individual participants who had volunteered to have their errant DNA recovered.
David Duffy, the UF professor of wildlife disease genomics who led the project, says that ethically handled environmental DNA samples could benefit fields from medicine and environmental science to archaeology and criminal forensics. For example, researchers could track cancer mutations from wastewater or spot undiscovered archaeological sites by checking for hidden human DNA. Or detectives could identify suspects from the DNA floating in the air of a crime scene.
But this level of personal information must be handled extremely carefully. Now, scientists and regulators must grapple with the ethical dilemmas inherent in accidentally — or intentionally — sweeping up human genetic information, not from blood samples but from a scoop of sand, a vial of water or a person’s breath.
Published May 15 in Nature Ecology and Evolution, the paper by Duffy’s group outlines the relative ease of collecting human DNA nearly everywhere they looked.
“We’ve been consistently surprised throughout this project at how much human DNA we find and the quality of that DNA,” Duffy said. “In most cases the quality is almost equivalent to if you took a sample from a person.”
Because of the ability to potentially identify individuals, the researchers say that ethical guardrails are necessary for this kind of research. The study was conducted with approval from the institutional review board of UF, which ensures that ethical guidelines are adhered to during research studies.
“It’s standard in science to make these sequences publicly available. But that also means if you don’t screen out human information, anyone can come along and harvest this information,” Duffy said. “That raises issues around consent. Do you need to get consent to take those samples? Or institute some controls to remove human information?”
Duffy’s team at UF’s Whitney Laboratory for Marine Bioscience and Sea Turtle Hospital has successfully used environmental DNA, or eDNA, to study endangered sea turtles and the viral cancers they are susceptible to. They’ve plucked useful DNA out of turtle tracks in the sand, greatly accelerating their research program.
The scientists knew that human eDNA would end up in their turtle samples and probably many other places they looked. With modern genetic sequencing technology, it’s now straightforward to sequence the DNA of every organism in an environmental sample. The questions were how much human DNA there would be and whether it was intact enough to harbor useful information.
The team found quality human DNA in the ocean and rivers surrounding the Whitney Lab, both near town and far from human settlement, as well as in sand from isolated beaches. In a test facilitated by the National Park Service, the researchers traveled to part of a remote island never visited by people. It was free of human DNA, as expected. But they were able to retrieve DNA from voluntary participants’ footprints in the sand and could sequence parts of their genomes, with permission from the anonymous participants.
Duffy also tested the technique in his native Ireland. Tracing along a river that winds through town on its way to the ocean, Duffy found human DNA everywhere but the remote mountain stream where the river starts, far from civilization.
The scientists also collected room air samples from a veterinary hospital. They recovered DNA matching the staff, the animal patient and common animal viruses.
Now that it’s clear human eDNA can be readily sampled, Duffy says it’s time for policymakers and scientific communities to take issues around consent and privacy seriously and balance them against the possible benefits of studying this errant DNA.
“Any time we make a technological advance, there are beneficial things that the technology can be used for and concerning things that the technology can be used for. It’s no different here,” Duffy said. “These are issues we are trying to raise early so policy makers and society have time to develop regulations.”
Original Article: Human DNA is everywhere. That’s a boon for science – and an ethical quagmire
More from: University of Florida
The Latest Updates from Bing News
Go deeper with Bing News on:
eDNA
- Mother of slain Edna cheerleader seeks justice after finding daughter dead
"It was as if I was living a nightmare at the moment," said Jackie Medina. "I couldn't believe it to find my daughter's lifeless body never in a million years would I have imagined that." ...
- Nasser Hussain has been chosen as Laurier’s winter 2024 Edna Staebler Writer-in-Residence
The Writer-in-Residence program and the Creative Non-Fiction Award are funded through a bequest the late author Edna Staebler left to the university. Hussain is a poet, educator and spoken word ...
- Texas High School Football: How to Stream the Franklin High School vs. Edna High School Game - December 7
Find out how to watch the Franklin High School vs. Edna High School football game on December 7 as well as game time and other game information.
- Family members identify 16-year-old Edna HS cheerleader found dead inside apartment; search for suspect underway
EDNA, Texas – A small town in Jackson County was rattled on Tuesday after a 16-year-old teen girl was found killed inside an apartment. Edna, Texas is about one hour and 30 minutes southwest of ...
- Authorities investigating 16-year-old Edna HS cheerleader found dead in home
EDNA, Texas (KTRK) -- Family and authorities in Edna, a town just southwest of Houston, are looking for answers after they said a high school cheerleader was found murdered. Texas DPS Troopers and the ...
Go deeper with Bing News on:
Environmental DNA
- Electric eels alter fish DNA through electric discharge, study finds
The aim was to observe if the zebrafish had embodied the DNA. The team hypothesized that electric currents flowing in a river could potentially impact nearby organisms' cells, facilitating the ...
- Electric Eels Can Zap DNA Into Nearby Animals, Shocking Study Finds
Electrical pulses from electric eels may cause little pores to open in the cells of nearby animals, allowing environmental DNA to enter their bodies.
- Identifying the fish species present in a river based on traces of their DNA
As they swim around, fish leave DNA fragments behind them, for example via their skin or their excrements. Once collected and analyzed, these indicators allow scientists to determine all the species ...
- Fishing for DNA to measure biodiversity
Identifying the fish species present in a river based on traces of their DNA: this method has been successfully tested at about 90 sites in Switzerland.
- Following in polar bears' footprints: DNA from snow tracks could help monitor threatened animals
Monitoring the populations of threatened animals like polar bears and snow leopards is crucial to safeguarding these populations for the future. Scientists have now discovered a non-invasive method of ...