• IAmNorRealTakeYourMeds@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    3
    ·
    16 hours ago

    WHAT?

    eDNA is the idea of taking a environmental sample like water or air, and finding traces of DNA and figuring out what creatures live in the area. you wouldn’t take a sample from an animal mouth to check for eDNA.

    you could tell what salamanders live in a pond by getting eDNA from the water, but no real point in checking the DNA in the salamander mouth.

    maybe to double check results for testing.

    • Asidonhopo@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      4
      ·
      14 hours ago

      I’d be pretty impressed if salamanders readily incorporated environmental transposons into their genome. Don’t octopuses rewrite their genetics on the fly though? I think I remember reading something about that years ago