Metagenomic approach to identifying Great Lakes fishes at their early life stages

Session: Application of Genomic Tools to Inform Management of the Great Lakes (4)

Kavishka Gallage, University of Toronto Scarborough, [email protected]
Nathan Lujan, University of Toronto Scarborough, [email protected]
Nicholas Mandrak, Biological Sciences, University of Toronto Scarborough, [email protected]
Nathan Lovejoy, University of Toronto Scarborough, [email protected]

Abstract

Accurately detecting and estimating the abundance of at-risk and aquatic invasive species is critical for management of aquatic ecosystems. Detecting and identifying early life stage individuals of these species is often difficult, time-consuming, and costly. A molecular approach to identifying early life stages would be more efficient and cost-effective than morphological approaches. We developed a metagenomic approach to identify all fish species inhabiting the Great Lakes basin. We created a set of primers targeting a short (300 bp) region of the COI barcode gene of approximately 240 species with emphasis on at-risk and invasive fish species. Currently, our mini-barcode primers amplify 90% of the species tested (n=148). We amplified all invasive species in our test panel, and all but Warmouth in our at-risk test panel. We are now using these primers to identify and quantify ~1300 unidentified batch samples of eggs and larvae collected from Great Lakes sites. This metagenomic study will establish the effectiveness of a high-throughput molecular approach to identify fishes at their early life stages. If successful, this method will expedite fish identification, reduce misidentifications, and enable early detection of aquatic invasive species.