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Asked by emilyhourican to Abyssal Grenadier, Baltic clam, Brachiopod, Common starfish, Naval Shipworm, Orkney vole, Scottish Crossbill, Snake Pipefish, Twisted-wing fly on 10 Nov 2017. This question was also asked by ccarroll27, harrie39.
Question: Would the individuals being sequenced come to any harm or distress?
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Scottish Crossbill answered on 10 Nov 2017:
Not at all. We can capture them with a net and then take a small pinprick of blood to get as much DNA as we need to do the genome analysis. Once we have a bit of blood we let the birds go again.
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Common Starfish answered on 11 Nov 2017:
The genome of only one individual starfish would be sequenced and there would be sufficient DNA in one arm for genome sequencing. Starfish loose arms naturally as a defence mechanism – so we would remove one arm from one starfish, and then that starfish would re-grow a new arm having made a very important contribution to science!
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Twisted-wing Fly answered on 13 Nov 2017:
With insects as small as twisted-wing flies, you need a specimen in order to extract enough DNA for sequencing. It’s very hard to know how much an insect suffers, but we always collect them in as humane a way as possible (ensuring they feel the minimum of pain or none), and never collect more specimens than we need to answer a particular question. Unfortunately there is no way of studying these microscopic creatures properly without having to kill them – one of the reasons is that different species can appear identical until preserved specimens are studied under the microscope. These specimens are preserved permanently in the Natural History Museum in London, and are made available for study for future generations of scientists.
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Abyssal Grenadier answered on 13 Nov 2017:
Because the abyssal grenadier lives in the deep sea sampling them can be very difficult. Unlike animals such as the Scottish Crossbill we cannot find the fish and take small samples from them and let them go again. When we sample animals in the deep sea we have to capture the whole animal. In the future we hope that technology can advance to let us take smaller samples but it is really important to understand how the deep sea is being affected by climate change, fishing, pollution etc that if we wait for the technology to catch up the animals in the deep sea might already be badly affected.
However, none of the animals we collect go to waste and all of them are essential in helping us understand and protect the deep sea.
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Snake Pipefish answered on 13 Nov 2017:
To entirely honest, yes they would. You don’t need a big sample to be to sequence a genome, for example, a little bit of fin tissue (a fin clip) in case of a fish, and for that you need to handle and take the fish out of the water which can be very stressful. But it scares them more than it hurts them, collecting a bit of fin doesn’t injure them seriously, they heal quickly.
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Terebratulina Retusa answered on 13 Nov 2017:
Unfortunately yes. A brachiopod is 90- 95% shell. To get the DNA out I’m afraid you’d have to grind it down into small pieces
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Naval Shipworm answered on 20 Nov 2017:
Hi! The simple but not complete answer is “it depends on the type of animal” – you need a tissue sample, but sometimes this can be just some blood or a small sample of the body. Some kinds of animals might not notice this!
However, when scientists work with DNA, they always make sure that they minimise harm to animals. Often we can work with animals that have been collected in the past, or that have been donated to us (by fishermen, for example). We have, for example, some naval shipworms that were collected several years ago. However, if we were to collect fresh animals, we can make sure the animal does not notice what happens, and treat them far better than they are treated in the wild!
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