July 21, 2022 -- DNA from hundreds of insect species continues to be present in a cup of dried tea leaves, according to a new study.
According to a recent study published in Biology Letters, tiny traces of DNA can help researchers track trends over time in: B. Population decline and insect species that interacted with plants prior to harvest and packaging.
These are bees that pollinate plants, caterpillars that cocoon plants, and spiders that nest around plants.
''There are very specific interactions and very cryptic interactions that nobody has studied before, so little is known about them,'' said Trier, Germany's lead author of the study. says Henrik Krehenwinkel, an ecological geneticist at the university. Smithsonian magazine.
Krehenwinkel and colleagues found that dried plant material is a promising source for environmental DNA analysis. Environmental DNA analysis has become a popular biomonitoring research method in recent years. The researchers used water, soil and plant surfaces as samples. For this study, researchers chose teas and herbs. Because the leaves are usually crushed and dried, there are potential DNA traces.
“In a sample like coffee that is very highly processed, he probably has very little DNA left,” Krehenwinkel said. ''So we tried to be as natural as possible.''
The research team purchased teas and herbs from local grocers from four continents, he told the magazine. tested. The team then developed a method to extract and amplify arthropod DNA from plant material. Most of the DNA in tea leaves comes from tea plants, but a small amount comes from insects.
“Of the DNA we extracted, he was about 99.999 percent plant DNA and all that was left was insect DNA,” Krehenwinkel said. ''This is, of course, good for tea drinkers, because they want to drink tea, not bugs.''
The research team analyzed a variety of commercially available teas and herbs, including chamomile, mint, and parsley. The samples contained DNA traces of a wide range of insect communities spanning over 20 orders of magnitude and a total of over 1,200 different species. On average, over 200 different arthropod species were found in each tea sample.
In general, species were consistent with known plant and arthropod distributions. For example, mint tea contained DNA from insects found in peppermint-growing regions of the Pacific Northwest, and green tea contained DNA from insects native to East Asia.
The test method can be applied to all dry plants and could be a valuable tool for monitoring endangered insect species and tracking pests in crops, the researchers wrote. I'm here.
Krehenwinkel is also interested in extracting insect DNA from dried plants collected decades ago and preserved in museum collections. This can be compared to modern plants to trace how the species changed. This could also help in insect conservation efforts.
The new method could allow researchers to ''go back in time and understand how communities have changed,'' he said.
According to a recent study published in Biology Letters, tiny traces of DNA can help researchers track trends over time in: B. Population decline and insect species that interacted with plants prior to harvest and packaging.
These are bees that pollinate plants, caterpillars that cocoon plants, and spiders that nest around plants.
''There are very specific interactions and very cryptic interactions that nobody has studied before, so little is known about them,'' said Trier, Germany's lead author of the study. says Henrik Krehenwinkel, an ecological geneticist at the university. Smithsonian magazine.
Krehenwinkel and colleagues found that dried plant material is a promising source for environmental DNA analysis. Environmental DNA analysis has become a popular biomonitoring research method in recent years. The researchers used water, soil and plant surfaces as samples. For this study, researchers chose teas and herbs. Because the leaves are usually crushed and dried, there are potential DNA traces.
“In a sample like coffee that is very highly processed, he probably has very little DNA left,” Krehenwinkel said. ''So we tried to be as natural as possible.''
The research team purchased teas and herbs from local grocers from four continents, he told the magazine. tested. The team then developed a method to extract and amplify arthropod DNA from plant material. Most of the DNA in tea leaves comes from tea plants, but a small amount comes from insects.
“Of the DNA we extracted, he was about 99.999 percent plant DNA and all that was left was insect DNA,” Krehenwinkel said. ''This is, of course, good for tea drinkers, because they want to drink tea, not bugs.''
The research team analyzed a variety of commercially available teas and herbs, including chamomile, mint, and parsley. The samples contained DNA traces of a wide range of insect communities spanning over 20 orders of magnitude and a total of over 1,200 different species. On average, over 200 different arthropod species were found in each tea sample.
In general, species were consistent with known plant and arthropod distributions. For example, mint tea contained DNA from insects found in peppermint-growing regions of the Pacific Northwest, and green tea contained DNA from insects native to East Asia.
The test method can be applied to all dry plants and could be a valuable tool for monitoring endangered insect species and tracking pests in crops, the researchers wrote. I'm here.
Krehenwinkel is also interested in extracting insect DNA from dried plants collected decades ago and preserved in museum collections. This can be compared to modern plants to trace how the species changed. This could also help in insect conservation efforts.
The new method could allow researchers to ''go back in time and understand how communities have changed,'' he said.
