Talk:20.109(S14):Microbial DNA extraction (Day1)

Each of you will isolate DNA from a bird cloacal sample. You will not necessarily prepare the same sample as your partner, so please read the table below carefully.

Sample #	Species	Sex	Location	People Assigned
308	RBG	F	Carson Beach	T/R Red (both), T/R Orange (one!)
312	RBG	F	Carson Beach	T/R Orange (one!), T/R Yellow (both)
290	RBG	F	Carson Beach	W/F Green (both), W/F Blue (one!)
274	RBG	M	Carson Beach	W/F Blue (one!), W/F Pink (both)
286	RBG	M	Carson Beach	W/F Red (both), W/F Orange (one!)
294	RBG	M	Carson Beach	W/F Orange (one!), W/F Yellow (both)
304	HG	M	South Bay Center	T/R Green (both), T/R Blue (one!)
252	HG	M	South Bay Center	T/R Blue (one!), T/R Pink (both), W/F Silver (both)
260	HG	M	South Bay Center	W/F Purple (both), W/F White (both)

Bird sample background

• Species
  • RBG = ring-billed gull
  • HG = herring gull

Gulls are sampled with the Department of Conservation and Recreation of Massachusetts at various locations – including parking lots, beaches, and farms (see video at http://youtu.be/KjSETB49lnc). Briefly, the gulls are baited with bread (and sometimes Doritos), a rocket launcher shoots a net onto the birds, and they are then restrained and individually processed. Unlike most mammals, which have different excretory paths for urine and feces, birds have both their urine and feces excreted through a single opening called the cloaca. Birds also mate by touching their cloacas together, called a “cloacal kiss.” Processing the gulls involves measuring the morphometrics (weight, beak depth, etc.), banding the birds with federal bands, and swabbing them to detect influenza virus. Swabs from the oropharynx and cloaca of each bird are transported back to the lab and stored at –80 °C until they are processed to detect influenza virus. (Thanks to Chris for this background!)