Water pre-filtration methods to improve environmental DNA detection by real-time PCR and metabarcoding

PLoS One. 2021 May 7;16(5):e0250162. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0250162. eCollection 2021.

Abstract

Environmental DNA (eDNA) analysis is a novel approach for biomonitoring and has been mostly used in clear water. It is difficult to detect eDNA in turbid water as filter clogging occurs, and environmental samples contain various substances that inhibit the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and affect the accuracy of eDNA analysis. Therefore, we applied a pre-filtration method to better detect the fish species (particularly pale chub, Opsariichthys platypus) present in a water body by measuring eDNA in environmental samples containing PCR inhibitors. Upon conducting 12S rRNA metabarcoding analysis (MiFish), we found that pre-filtration did not affect the number or identities of fish species detected in our samples, but pre-filtration through pore sizes resulted in significantly reduced variance among replicate samples. Additionally, PCR amplification was improved by the pre-filtration of environmental samples containing PCR inhibitors such as humic substances. Although this study may appear to be a conservative and ancillary experiment, pre-filtration is a simple technique that can not only improve the physical properties of water, such as turbidity, but also the quality of eDNA biomonitoring.

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • DNA Barcoding, Taxonomic* / methods
  • DNA, Environmental* / analysis
  • DNA, Environmental* / genetics
  • Environmental Monitoring* / methods
  • Filtration*
  • Fishes / genetics
  • RNA, Ribosomal / genetics
  • Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction* / methods
  • Water / chemistry

Substances

  • DNA, Environmental
  • RNA, Ribosomal
  • Water
  • RNA, ribosomal, 12S

Grants and funding

This study was partially funded by FASMAC Co., Ltd. The funder provided support in the form of salaries for authors KT, HA, TI, TM, KT, AU, and SO. The specific roles of these authors are articulated in the ‘author contributions’ section. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. No additional external funding was received for this study.