Short Communication Spider Predation: Species-specific Identification of Gut Contents by Polymerase Chain Reaction

Development of New Modified Simple Polymerase Chain Reaction and Real-time Polymerase Chain Reaction for the Identification of Iranian Brucella abortus Strains

Brucellosis is primarily a worldwide zoonotic disease caused by Brucella species. The genus Brucella contains highly infectious species that are classified as biological threat agents. In this regard, the identification of Brucella can be a time-consuming and labor-intensive process posing a real risk of laboratory-acquired infection to the laboratory staff. This stud...

Application of DNA barcoding for identification of freshwater carnivorous fish diets: Is number of prey items dependent on size class for Micropterus salmoides?

Understanding predator-prey interactions is a major challenge in ecological studies. In particular, the accurate identification of prey is a fundamental requirement in elucidating food-web structure. This study took a molecular approach in determining the species identity of consumed prey items of a freshwater carnivorous fish (largemouth bass, Micropterus salmoides), according to their size cl...

Application of specific primers and polymerase chain reaction for identification of ralstonia solanacearum biovar2

Evaluation of temperature gradient gel electrophoresis for the analysis of prey DNA within the guts of invertebrate predators.

The utility of temperature gradient gel electrophoresis (TGGE) as a means of analysing the gut contents of predators was evaluated. Generalist predators consume multiple prey species and a species-specific primer approach may not always be a practical means of analysing predator responses to prey diversity in complex and biodiverse ecosystems. General invertebrate primers were used to amplify t...

Collembola as alternative prey sustaining spiders in arable ecosystems: prey detection within predators using molecular markers.

Collembola comprise a major source of alternative prey to linyphiid spiders in arable fields, helping to sustain and retain these predators as aphid control agents within the crop. Polymerase chain reaction primers were developed for the amplification, from spider gut samples, of DNA from three of the most abundant species of Collembola in wheat crops in Europe, namely Isotoma anglicana, Lepido...