Can we use beaks for DNA analyses and mercury contamination assessment?

International audience Cephalopod beaks found in the diet of predators have been amajor source of scientific information. In this study,we evaluated the usefulness of DNA and contaminants analysis (total mercury — T-Hg) in cephalopod beaks inorder to assess their applicability as tools in marine eco...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Marine Pollution Bulletin
Main Authors: Xavier, José Carlos, Ferreira, Sónia, Tavares, Silvia, Santos, Nuno, Mieiro, Cláudia Leopoldina, Trathan, Philip N., Lourenço, Sílvia, Martinho, Filipe, Steinke, Dirk, Seco, Jose, Pereira, Eduarda, Pardal, Miguel, Cherel, Yves
Other Authors: British Antarctic Survey (BAS), Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), Biodiversity institute of Ontario, University of Guelph, Marine and environmental research centre - IMAR-CMA (Coimbra, Portugal), University of Coimbra Portugal (UC), Centre d'Études Biologiques de Chizé - UMR 7372 (CEBC), La Rochelle Université (ULR)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE)
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: HAL CCSD 2016
Subjects:
Squid beaks
Toxicology
DNA
Mercury levels
[SDE]Environmental Sciences
Antarctic
Antarc*
Antarctic Squid
Online Access:https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01292414
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2015.12.016
Description
Summary:International audience Cephalopod beaks found in the diet of predators have been amajor source of scientific information. In this study,we evaluated the usefulness of DNA and contaminants analysis (total mercury — T-Hg) in cephalopod beaks inorder to assess their applicability as tools in marine ecology studies. We concluded that, when applying DNAtechniques to cephalopod beaks from Antarctic squid species, when using flesh attached to those beaks, it waspossible to obtain DNA and to successfully identify cephalopod species; DNA was not found on the beaks themselves.This study also showed that it is possible to obtain information on T-Hg concentrations in beaks: the T-Hgconcentrations found in the beaks were 6 to 46 times lower than in the flesh of the same cephalopod species.More research on the relationships of mercury concentrations in cephalopod beaks (and other tissues), intraandinter-specifically, are needed in the future.

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