Contaminations Contaminate Common Databases

Overview

Journal Mol Ecol Resour

Specialties Biology
Environmental Health
Molecular Biology

Date 2020 Oct 10

PMID 33037786

Citations 14

Authors

Staffan Bensch

Mizue Inumaru

Yukita Sato

Larisa Lee Cruz

Andrew A Cunningham

Simon J Goodman

Iris I Levin

Patricia G Parker

Patricia Casanueva

Maria-Angeles Hernandez

Gregorio Moreno-Rueda

Maria-Angeles Rojo

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is a very powerful method to detect and identify pathogens. The high sensitivity of the method, however, comes with a cost; any of the millions of artificial DNA copies generated by PCR can serve as a template in a following experiment. If not identified as contaminations, these may result in erroneous conclusions on the occurrence of the pathogen, thereby inflating estimates of host range and geographic distribution. In the present paper, we evaluate whether several published records of avian haemosporidian parasites, in either unusual host species or geographical regions, might stem from PCR contaminations rather than novel biological findings. The detailed descriptions of these cases are shedding light upon the steps in the work process that might lead to PCR contaminations. By increasing the awareness of this problem, it will aid in developing procedures that keep these to a minimum. The examples in the present paper are from haemosporidians of birds, however the problem of contaminations and suggested actions should apply generally to all kinds of PCR-based identifications, not just of parasites and pathogens.

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