Quantitative PCR (qPCR) of Key Macroalgal Non-Indigenous Species in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick Waters

To support the surveillance of key macroalgae and non-indigenous species in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, five quantitative PCR (qPCR) assays were designed and tested at 111 sites in 2022-2023 targeting the following non-indigenous macroalgal species: Antithamnion sparsum, Bonnemaisonia hamifera, Codium fragile, Dasysiphonia japonica, Fucus serratus. All assays were developed in 2022 by the Center for Environmental Genomics Applications (CEGA, Newfoundland, Canada) except Antithamnion sparsum, for which an assay was developed in 2023 by the Aquatic Biotechnology Laboratory (ABL) at the Bedford Institute of Oceanography. All amplification was performed by the ABL in 2022-2023. The assay developed for Fucus serratus was later determined to be non-specific, and amplifies both F. serratus and Fucus distichus.