Use of Molecular Analysis Techniques to Optimize Amphibian Tissues Yield of High Quality and Quantity of DNA.

Researcher: Calvin Means

Title: Use of molecular analysis techniques to optimize amphibian tissues yield of high quality and quantity of DNA

Summary: Global decline of amphibian populations has been increasing steadily. Traditional methods of analyzing population fitness and disease are limited and can continue for years. Often, the discovery of poor population fitness in amphibians is tragically to late to prevent the occurrence of drastic population decline. The use of molecular techniques to evaluate populations fitness based on variation, have become a preferred method in assessing amphibian declines.  Beebee and Rowe (2001) found genetic analysis using microsatellite loci was effective in distinguishing between short-term fluctuation and long-term trend in accurately assessing amphibian declines. Difficult still exist in extraction DNA from a variety of tissue types. This research project will address the need to determine which, if any, tissue types yield significantly higher quality DNA.