Fresh Is best: accurate SNP genotyping from koala scats

Maintaining genetic diversity is a crucial component in conserving threatened species. For the iconic Australian koala, there is little genetic information on wild populations that is not either skewed by biased sampling methods (e.g. sampling effort skewed towards urban areas) or of limited usefulness due to low numbers of microsatellites used. The ability to genotype DNA extracted from koala scats using next-generation sequencing technology will not only help resolve location sample bias but also improve the accuracy and scope of genetic analyses (e.g. neutral versus adaptive genetic diversity, inbreeding, and effective population size). Here we present the successful SNP genotyping (1272 SNP loci) of koala DNA extracted from scat, using a proprietary DArTseq™ protocol. We compare genotype results from two day old scat DNA and 14 day old scat DNA to a blood DNA template, to test accuracy of scat genotyping. We find that DNA from fresher scat results in fewer loci with missing informat...