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buried the lede, imho: we have enough DNA profiles to match their sampling up with. I'm always stunned when reminded that a full genome sequencing has gone fro
by butvacuum 6mo ago
buried the lede, imho: we have enough DNA profiles to match their sampling up with.
I'm always stunned when reminded that a full genome sequencing has gone from Human Genome Project's extreme cost and (edit: glacial) speed to using seqencing as the easy button.
I hear we've also got machines that'll seqence, fit on a bench, and cost high five/low six figures. They've got issues to work out still though- iirc something about damaged sections causing issues.
- cmrx64 6mo agofour figures these days. fits in your hand. nanopore is a revolution. https://nanoporetech.com/products/sequence/minion https://nanoporetech.com/products/sequence/minion there’s youtubers that have videos about doing this in a home wetlab. very achievable. some amateur soil biologists using this to try and sample microdiversity as the planet… humanifies.
- dubi_steinkek 6mo agoDo you have links to these youtubers? Sounds interesting
- samplatt 6mo agoNot OP, but The Thought Emporium is a personal favourite. Their name belies the hands-on nature of their videos. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0_q-fD_lyU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0_q-fD_lyU
- robertlagrant 6mo agoEx-Nanopore employee here. One interesting thing we heard about internally was that OceanX[0] has one of our GridION[1] devices (slightly larger, and built-in compute) that they were using to track whales in the ocean by sequencing DNA found in seawater. Really cool. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OceanX https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OceanX [1] https://nanoporetech.com/products/sequence/gridion https://nanoporetech.com/products/sequence/gridion
- netcraft 6mo agohuge if true had an episode about this recently https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HlLwG2xN_c https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HlLwG2xN_c
- the__alchemist 6mo agoI have a mol bio home lab, and decided against it because while the devices themselves are reasonably priced, the flow cells are an expensive disposable. I use Plasmidsaurus instead: Pay them $15/sample online, drop off the tubes in a styrophoam box labeled with a dinosaur in a nearby university building; get the results next morning. They use Oxford Nanopore, but are loading your sample along with many other samples to maximize flow cell use.
- butvacuum 6mo agonot suprised. the website seemed to indicate to me (a layman in this area) that it expired based on time, not use- so Seqiencing As A Service (ha!) makes financial sense for most people.
- smolder 6mo agoPaleontology has been really helped by the ease of sequencing, to the point where many evolutionary arguments are moot. Humans are apes, birds are dinosaurs. Some people still dispute it, but not with evidence on their side.
- Terr_ 6mo ago> Some people still dispute it I particularly like this Futurama clip on the subject. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=VzGtk7Ip4NU https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=VzGtk7Ip4NU
- pfdietz 6mo ago> birds are dinosaurs Not that I doubt that, but how does DNA help, when we have no DNA samples from dinosaurs?
- mpaepper 6mo agohttps://www.syfy.com/syfy-wire/scientists-discover-well-preserved-dino-dna https://www.syfy.com/syfy-wire/scientists-discover-well-pres...
- pfdietz 6mo agoThat claim is widely believed to be bullshit.
- throwaway27448 6mo agoBirds are dinosaurs because they are in the clade dinosauria. Their closest living quadrupedal relatives by genetic distance are indeed crocodiles. But you're right, it is the fossil record that provides the strongest evidence.
- pfdietz 6mo agoI meant, "we have no DNA evidence from non-avian dinosaurs". Saying that birds have the same DNA as birds is not evidence of much of anything. :)
- globular-toast 6mo agoShould be noted, though, the cheaper/quicker techniques do still come with compromises compared to the "gold standard" technique used for the Human Genome Project.