Bioinsight provides contract environmental DNA (eDNA) analysis for research institutes, government agencies and companies. We identify the organisms present in a sample — soil, water, honey, faeces, sediment or an industrial water system — by reading the DNA they leave behind.
Plant metabarcoding
Estimates which plant species are present in a mixed sample. Typical applications include identifying the floral sources of honey from its pollen, reconstructing the diet of wildlife and insects from faecal samples, and verifying plant raw materials in manufacturing.
Features
- Laboratory protocols developed for difficult templates such as honey, and for very small sample volumes
- Cross-validated reference databases for reliable assignment
- Annotation combining a naive Bayes classifier with BLAST to prioritise species-level resolution while avoiding misassignment — our ITS2 RefSeq Integration Workflow (IRW)
- Reports prepared for the intended use, whether academic research or general application
Specification
- DNA extraction, PCR, next-generation sequencing and taxonomic annotation
- ITS2 marker region (rbcL available on request)
- Deliverables (research use): report, sequence data in FASTQ format, annotation results and read counts in XLSX format
Arthropod metabarcoding
Metabarcoding targeting arthropods such as insects and crustaceans. Commonly used to determine what prey species an animal or predatory insect has consumed, from faecal or environmental samples.
- Protocols suitable for degraded material such as faeces, and for trace amounts of sample
- Cross-validated reference databases
- Naive Bayes classifier combined with BLAST for species-level annotation
- CO1 marker region
- Deliverables (research use): report, FASTQ sequence data, annotation results and read counts in XLSX format
Environmental and infrastructure microbial DNA analysis
DNA analysis makes visible the microbial communities living in water systems and infrastructure — channels, pipework, drainage, storage tanks, cooling and circulating water, and sediment.
By profiling communities that include iron bacteria, sulfur-oxidising bacteria, iron-reducing bacteria and biofilm-forming species, we help identify the biological background to deposit formation, corrosion and blockage.
| Target | Symptoms observed | Analysis |
|---|---|---|
| Pipework and channels | Blockage, deposits, discolouration | Evaluation of biofilm-forming and corrosion-related bacteria |
| Storage tanks | Reddish-brown deposits, changes in water quality | Microbial community analysis of water and sediment |
| Soil and sediment | Reducing conditions, sulfurous odour, shifts in metal content | Microbial community analysis of soil and sediment |
Data analysis, reference databases and scripting
Results of eDNA analysis can differ depending on the reference database and the taxonomic assignment method used. We curate species-specific DNA databases and optimise annotation methods so that the output matches the purpose of the study.
- Re-analysis of existing data — we re-process DNA data you already hold, through to taxonomic annotation.
- Reference database construction — built from current public data such as NCBI, per marker region (rbcL, ITS, CO1 and others), for use with QIIME 2 and BLAST.
- Pipeline scripting — code covering everything from FASTQ import to taxonomic annotation, following your preferred parameters and procedures.
- Downstream analysis — principal component analysis and other downstream work from BAM and equivalent outputs.
- Analysis environment setup — a Linux analysis environment built on Microsoft Azure, including virtual machine provisioning, remote desktop setup and installation of the main applications. A separate cloud service contract is required on your side.
Enquiries
Please tell us the sample type, the number of samples and your target turnaround, and we can give you an indicative quotation and schedule in our first reply. We normally respond within two business days.