Extending the molecular biodiversity assessment toolbox

A focus of our research is to improve existing molecular techniques for the analysis of population processes and the monitoring of communities by making them more holistic, faster, more robust, and therefore more reliable and inclusive. Examples are new eDNA based approaches, specifically DNA metabarcoding primer or new software for the analysis of high throughput data.

The standardization of the methodology for the implementation in regulatory routine monitoring especially of DNA metabarcoding is a focus in several projects.

Publications:

Macher, J.N., Zizka, V., Weigand, A.M., Leese, F., 2017. A simple centrifugation protocol for metagenomic studies increases mitochondrial DNA yield by two orders of magnitude. Methods in Ecology and Evolution. https://doi.org/10.1111/2041-210X.12937

Zizka, V.M.A., Elbrecht, V., Macher, J.N., Leese, F., 2019. Assessing the influence of sample tagging and library preparation on DNA metabarcoding. Molecular Ecology Resources 19, 893–899. https://doi.org/10.1111/1755-0998.13018

Zizka, V.M.A., Leese, F., Peinert, B., Geiger, M.F., 2018. DNA metabarcoding from sample fixative as a quick and voucher-preserving biodiversity assessment method. Genome 62, 122–136. https://doi.org/10.1139/gen-2018-0048

Timm, H., Weigand, H., Weiss, M., Leese, F., Rahmann, S., 2018. DDRAGE: A Dataset Generator to Evaluate ddRADseq Analysis Software. Molecular Ecology Resources 18, 681–690. https://doi.org/10.1111/1755-0998.12743

Weigand, H., Leese, F., 2018. Detecting signatures of positive selection in non-model species using genomic data. Zool J Linn Soc 184, 528–583. https://doi.org/10.1093/zoolinnean/zly007

Buchner, D., Leese, F., 2020. BOLDigger – a Python package to identify and organise sequences with the Barcode of Life Data systems. Metabarcoding and Metagenomics 4, e53535. https://doi.org/10.3897/mbmg.4.53535