DNA fingerprints for environmental samples

WALNUT CREEK, Calif., April 21 (UPI) -- U.S. researchers said it is possible to determine the health of an ecosystem just by analyzing the DNA of microbes living in it.

In a report in the April 22 issue of the journal Science, researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Joint Genome Institute said they have demonstrated capture of the DNA profile of microbes that reflects the presence and levels of nutrients, pollutants, and other features in a local ecosystem.

For example, there should be more genes associated with breaking down plant material in the soil and more genes for photosynthesis in water where light is the microbes' major energy source. The abundance or of lack genes for certain functions can tell scientists about the health of the environment at the location where the sample was taken.

The snapshot of all the genes in a sample is called a dubbed environmental genomic tag or EGT.

"These fingerprints can be used to reveal environments under stress as well as signal progress in remediating contaminated environments. This may well develop environmental ecology into a fully quantitative science," said Raymond Orbach, director of the department's Office of Science, which supported the research.