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Spider webs as eDNA tool for biodiversity assessment of life’s domains

View ORCID ProfileMatjaž Gregorič, View ORCID ProfileDenis Kutnjak, Katarina Bačnik, View ORCID ProfileCene Gostinčar, Anja Pecman, View ORCID ProfileMaja Ravnikar, View ORCID ProfileMatjaž Kuntner
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.07.18.209999
Matjaž Gregorič
1Jovan Hadži Institute of Biology, Scientific Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Novi trg 2, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
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  • For correspondence: matjaz.gregoric@zrc-sazu.si matjaz.gregoric@gmail.com
Denis Kutnjak
2Department of Biotechnology and Systems Biology, National Institute of Biology, Večna pot 111, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
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Katarina Bačnik
2Department of Biotechnology and Systems Biology, National Institute of Biology, Večna pot 111, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
3Jožef Stefan International Postgraduate School, Jamova cesta 39, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
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Cene Gostinčar
4Department of Biology, Biotechnical Faculty, University of Ljubljana, Jamnikarjeva ulica 101, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
5Lars Bolund Institute of Regenerative Medicine, BGI-Qingdao, Qingdao 266555, China
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Anja Pecman
2Department of Biotechnology and Systems Biology, National Institute of Biology, Večna pot 111, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
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Maja Ravnikar
2Department of Biotechnology and Systems Biology, National Institute of Biology, Večna pot 111, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
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Matjaž Kuntner
1Jovan Hadži Institute of Biology, Scientific Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Novi trg 2, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
6Department of Organisms and Ecosystems Research, National Institute of Biology, Večna pot 111, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
7Department of Entomology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, 10th and Constitution, NW, Washington, DC 20560-0105, USA
8Centre for Behavioural Ecology and Evolution, College of Life Sciences, Hubei University, 368 Youyi Road, Wuhan, Hubei 430062, China
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Abstract

The concept of environmental DNA (eDNA) utilizes nucleic acids of organisms directly from the environment. Recent breakthrough studies have successfully detected a wide spectrum of prokaryotic and eukaryotic eDNA from a variety of environments, ranging from ancient to modern, and from terrestrial to aquatic. These numerous sources promise to establish eDNA as a tool for diverse scientific settings. Here, we propose and establish spider webs as a source of eDNA with far reaching implications. First, we conducted a field study to track specific arthropod targets from different spider webs. We then employed high-throughput amplicon sequencing of taxonomic barcodes to investigate the utility of spider web eDNA for biodiversity monitoring of animals, fungi and bacteria. Our results show that genetic remains on spider webs allow the detection of even the smallest target organisms. We also demonstrate that eDNA from spider webs is useful in research of community compositions in different domains of life, with potentially highly detailed temporal and spatial information.

Competing Interest Statement

The authors have declared no competing interest.

Copyright 
The copyright holder for this preprint is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under a CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license.
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Posted July 19, 2020.
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Spider webs as eDNA tool for biodiversity assessment of life’s domains
Matjaž Gregorič, Denis Kutnjak, Katarina Bačnik, Cene Gostinčar, Anja Pecman, Maja Ravnikar, Matjaž Kuntner
bioRxiv 2020.07.18.209999; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.07.18.209999
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Spider webs as eDNA tool for biodiversity assessment of life’s domains
Matjaž Gregorič, Denis Kutnjak, Katarina Bačnik, Cene Gostinčar, Anja Pecman, Maja Ravnikar, Matjaž Kuntner
bioRxiv 2020.07.18.209999; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.07.18.209999

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