Raw data for Urine DNA (uDNA) as a non-lethal method for endoparasite biomonitoring: development and validation

Changes in environmental conditions alter host-parasite interactions, raising the need for effective epidemiological surveillance. Developing operational, accurate, and cost-effective methods to assess individual infection status and potential for pathogen spread is a prerequisite to anticipate future disease outbreaks in wild populations. For endoparasites, effective detection of infections usually relies on host-lethal approaches, which are barely compatible with wildlife conservation objectives. Here, we used the brown trout (Salmo trutta) - Tetracapsuloides bryosalmonae host-parasite system to develop a non-lethal method for endoparasite infection detection, hereafter called “uDNA” for urine DNA. The uDNA diagnostic test is based on the amplification of endoparasite DNA from host urine. We sampled wild fish (N = 111) from eight sites, let them excrete in individual buckets filled with mineral water and performed parasite DNA amplification from water filtration. We compared the resul...