Who knows about Galapagos DNA?

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spikethebest

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I think this guy does... Dr. Ed Louis. Does anyone have any information about this guy? I googled him and found nothing. Is he a professor out of University of Neb at Omaha?

If I cant find this guy, does anyone else know a method to determine tortoise species by its DNA?

I have searched the web about DNA testing, and I am unsuccessful. however, i am a graduate student at a university, in the biology department, and i have access and the knowledge on how to extract blood, isolate nDNA or mtDNA (nuclear DNA and mitochrondia DNA), amplify it, and sequence it.

So all I need to know are what primers to use, which DNA extraction kit, and what sequence of nucleotides, then I am all set. But I dont know where to find this information.
 

Ross

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Hi,

You might be able to reach him via the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha. If that doesn't work, let me know. He actually did his DNA work while at Texas A&M, but I think he's moved on from there.

Ross

spikethebest said:
I think this guy does... Dr. Ed Louis. Does anyone have any information about this guy? I googled him and found nothing. Is he a professor out of University of Neb at Omaha?

If I cant find this guy, does anyone else know a method to determine tortoise species by its DNA?

I have searched the web about DNA testing, and I am unsuccessful. however, i am a graduate student at a university, in the biology department, and i have access and the knowledge on how to extract blood, isolate nDNA or mtDNA (nuclear DNA and mitochrondia DNA), amplify it, and sequence it.

So all I need to know are what primers to use, which DNA extraction kit, and what sequence of nucleotides, then I am all set. But I dont know where to find this information.
 

egyptiandan

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Might want to try any of these guys Cory. :)

3) Historical DNA Analysis Reveals Living Descendants Of An Extinct Species Of Galápagos Tortoise
Nikos Poulakakis*,†,‡, Scott Glaberman*,†, Michael Russello*,†,§, Luciano B. Beheregaray, Claudio Ciofi‖, Jeffrey R. Powell*, and Adalgisa Caccone*
+Author Affiliations
*Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520;
§Unit of Biology and Physical Geography, University of British Columbia Okanagan, Kelowna, BC, Canada V1V 1V7;
Department of Biological Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney NSW 2190, Australia; and
‖Department of Evolutionary Biology, University of Florence, 50125 Florence, Italy
↵†N.P, S.G., and M.R. contributed equally to this work.
Edited by David B. Wake, University of California, Berkeley, CA, and approved July 30, 2008 (received for review June 4, 2008)
Published in Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences 9/30/08
· ‡To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract
Giant tortoises, a prominent symbol of the Galápagos archipelago, illustrate the influence of geological history and natural selection on the diversification of organisms. Because of heavy human exploitation, 4 of the 15 known species (Geochelone spp.) have disappeared. Charles Darwin himself detailed the intense harvesting of one species, G. elephantopus, which once was endemic to the island of Floreana. This species was believed to have been exterminated within 15 years of Darwin's historic visit to the Galápagos in 1835. The application of modern DNA techniques to museum specimens combined with long-term study of a system creates new opportunities for identifying the living remnants of extinct taxa in the wild. Here, we use mitochondrial DNA and microsatellite data obtained from museum specimens to show that the population on Floreana was evolutionarily distinct from all other Galápagos tortoise populations. It was demonstrated that some living individuals on the nearby i!
sland of Isabela are genetically distinct from the rest of the island's inhabitants. Surprisingly, we found that these “non-native” tortoises from Isabela are of recent Floreana ancestry and closely match the genetic data provided by the museum specimens. Thus, we show that the genetic line of G. elephantopus has not been completely extinguished and still exists in an intermixed population on Isabela. With enough individuals to commence a serious captive breeding program, this finding may help reestablish a species that was thought to have gone extinct more than a century ago and illustrates the power of long-term genetic analysis and the critical role of museum specimens in conservation biology.


Danny
 

spikethebest

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Plucky said:
Wow! This is interesting. Are you planning to do research or something?

And why galapagos DNA?

Is there any specific reason for you to pick galapagos DNA?




i would love to do some research on them, but it costs a lot of money. if money wasnt an issue, i would need to collaberate with someone how has done similar research and get some information (what is stated above in my post).

but yea, if all things are good, i would do it in a heartbeat.
 
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