DNA explorers at NYC high school

[Tito Jankowski]

Article on DIYbio:
http://diybio.org/2009/12/31/dna-explorers-at-nyc-high-school/

Great work by some DNA explorers -- it seems high school students are
kicking ass all over the place. Check out this big DNA species
identification project, about 200 samples and lots of cool findings.
Even one that suggests they found a new species of cockroach!

"We identified 95 different animal species."

You probably wouldn't believe me if I told you that all of the species
displayed above were found in local supermarkets and homes in New York
City. A feather from a duster yielded Ostrich DNA. A delicacy labeled
"sturgeon caviar" instead turned out to be from the strange-looking
Paddlefish. A popular Asian snack was revealed as Giant flying squid.
Bison DNA was found in a dog biscuit.

We found DNA evidence all around us. We found DNA "name tags" in all
kinds of human and pet foods including raw, cooked, dried, and
processed items. We obtained DNA from dried soup mix, scrambled eggs,
dog food, chicken McNuggets, hamburger, beef jerky, bologna, yogurt,
cheese and even butter. By analyzing DNA, we traced tiny,
unrecognizable bits of once-living things to their source.

We could identify animals from what they left behind in the
environment. We found tell-tale DNA in dried-out horse manure in
Central Park, a pigeon feather on the sidewalk and a shed snakeskin.

Website: http://phe.rockefeller.edu/barcode/dnahouse.html

PDF of samples and results:
http://phe.rockefeller.edu/barcode/DNAHouse%20specimens,%20results.pdf

[William Heath]

Hi All,

Does anyone know how they are getting the DNA from the samples, do they have a machine or are they using electrophoresis?

-Tim

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[J. S. John]

On Thu, Dec 31, 2009 at 2:04 PM, William Heath <wgh...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi All,
>
> Does anyone know how they are getting the DNA from the samples, do they have
> a machine or are they using electrophoresis?
>

My guess is that they extracted DNA and purified it. Then they
probably sent it out to a company to get it sequenced. It was probably
not done in-house. They said they compared the sequence to databank
sequences

[Lee Nelson]

>
> Does anyone know how they are getting the DNA from the samples, do they have
> a machine or are they using electrophoresis?
>

 

 I saw a different version of the article with more text. It said they sent samples to a National Museum for processing.

[Marshall Louis Reaves]

On Dec 31 2009, 3:31 pm, Lee Nelson <technologic...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I saw a different version of the article with more text. It said they sent
> samples to a National Museum for processing.

Lee do you have a citation/link for that please?

Thanks.

[Lee Nelson]

Lee do you have a citation/link for that please?

http://www.scienceblog.com/cms/student-sleuths-using-dna-reveal-zoo-95-species-nyc-homes-and-new-evidence-food-fraud-28786.html
In total, the students sent 217 specimens to the American Museum of Natural History for analysis. Some 70 percent -- 151 -- contained readable DNA for the standard "barcode" region now used to identify animal species.

When the museum scientists reported a DNA sequence back to the students, they simply pasted it electronically, like a 650-letter word, into a search engine (http:///www.barcodinglife.org) that translates the species name almost instantly. The translation rests on a Rosetta Stone called BOLD.

[Jason Bobe]

> When the museum scientists reported a DNA sequence back to the students,
> they simply pasted it electronically, like a 650-letter word, into a search

> engine (http:///www.barcodinglife.org<http://www.scienceblog.com/www.barcodinglife.org>)

> that translates the species name almost instantly. The translation rests on
> a Rosetta Stone called BOLD.

Here is a link to the BOLD system, for making queries using DNA
sequence data from the Cytochrome c oxidase subunit I gene ("COI"):
http://www.barcodinglife.org/views/idrequest.php

[Nathan McCorkle]

Heh, these kids will make good lab techs for a big corporation some day... Just me being cynical for a moment.

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Nathan McCorkle
Rochester Institute of Technology
College of Science, Biotechnology/Bioinformatics

[EJ]

They sent samples to the Museum of Natural history here in NYC. Not
clear from the article if they extracted the DNA or just collected
samples. When they got the sequences back they ran them through a
public database to ID them.

[Cat Ferguson]

Hey there, I'm definitely coming. I've been psyched to get involved
ever since I heard about your DNA extraction.
Hope to see you tomorrow night!
-Cat