Molecular Forensics of an Enigmatic Egg: Species Identification Using Mitochondrial DNA Barcoding
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Accurate identification of species of eggs is significance to ecology, conservation and enforcement of wildlife laws but sometimes can be difficult when morphological characters are not available or are unclear. A case-study is given on a DNA-based forensic pipeline that was used to determine an unknown egg that had been found and collected from a field site. Sanger sequencing and database searches (GenBank/ NCBI BLAST) using standard mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunits I (COI) barcoding protocols were used to assign species to the egg. This study present sampling, DNA isolation, COI-PCR amplification for the taxonomic assignment. Also addressed the technical difficulties (contamination, degraded DNA, reference database gap), interpretative thresholds of assigning a species, and conservation and enforcement implication. The article combines the existing procedures and published analyses of egg/ early -stage life molecular identification and offers a useful template to be used in forensic and ecological approaches.
Source: BIONATURE
Author: V.M. Sathish Kumar
Institution: Zoological Survey of India
Language: English
Subfield: Ecology
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W4414970938
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