Abstract
Environmental DNA (eDNA) is DNA shed by organisms into surrounding environments such as soil and water. The new methods using eDNA as a marker for species detection are being rapidly developed. Here we explore basic knowledge regarding the dependence of the eDNA degradation rate on time and water temperature, and the relationship between eDNA degradation and bacterial abundance. This subject has not been well clarified, even though it is essential for improving the reliability of eDNA analysis. To determine the time- and water temperature-dependent degradation of eDNA, river water was sampled and eDNA concentrations were determined for ayu sweetfish (Plecoglossus altivelis altivelis) and common carp (Cyprinus carpio) at seven time points, over a 48-h period, and at three different water temperatures. The degradation of eDNA was modeled for each species using an existing exponential decay model with an extension to include water temperature effects. The degradation models were constructed for ayu sweetfish as Nt = 229,901.2 × exp [− (0.01062 × k − 0.07081) × t] and for common carp as Nt = 2,558.0 × exp [− (0.01075 × k − 0.07372) × t]. Nt is the DNA concentration at time t (elapsed time in hours) and k is the water temperature (°C). We also measured the concentration of eDNA derived from purified genomic DNA of the common carp, which was spiked into aquarium water without the target species, and we measured the bacterial abundance in the sample water after 12 and 24 h of incubation. Environmental DNA degradation was accelerated at higher water temperatures (generalized linear model, GLM; p < 0.001), but bacterial abundance did not have a significant effect on eDNA degradation (GLM, p = 0.097). These results suggest that the proper treatment of this temperature effect in data interpretations and adjustments would increase the reliability of eDNA analysis in future studies.
Highlights
Environmental DNA analysis is rapidly developing as a new tool for the biomonitoring of macroorganisms [1,2,3,4]
The purpose of this study was to determine the water temperature-dependent degradation rate of Environmental DNA (eDNA) shed by ayu sweetfish (Plecoglossus altivelis altivelis Temminck and Schlegel 1846; Plecoglossidae, Osmeriformes) and common carp (Cyprinus carpio Linnaeus 1758; Cyprinidae, Cypriniformes) by using water samples from a river inhabited by both species and to construct a refined nonlinear model that incorporates the effect of water temperature in the existing degradation model
The coefficients of the interaction term of water temperature and time were different with all combinations of the three temperature controls for both ayu sweetfish and common carp (p < 0.01), except for temperatures between 20 ̊C and 30 ̊C in common carp (p = 0.07); there were stronger negative values at higher water temperatures (Table 1)
Summary
Environmental DNA (eDNA) analysis is rapidly developing as a new tool for the biomonitoring of macroorganisms [1,2,3,4]. Environmental DNA is composed of DNA fragments shed by organisms into the surrounding water or soil. They are derived from various sources such as metabolic waste, damaged tissue, and sloughed skin cells [5,6]. The time required for the eDNA survey was explicitly shorter than that required for a conventional survey. They achieved their goals and caught the loach with increased efforts, motivated by the detection of eDNA for this species at a specific location from a prior survey. In addition to the easy on-site sampling and cost-effectiveness, makes eDNA analysis a prospective tool for natural resource management and ecological studies of biological communities [9,14]
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