Assessing the performance and efficiency of environmental DNA/RNA capture methodologies under controlled experimental conditions

Growing interest and affordability of environmental DNA and RNA (eDNA and eRNA) approaches for biodiversity assessments and monitoring of complex ecosystems have led to the emergence of manifold protocols for nucleic acids (NAs) isolation and processing. Although there is no consensus on a standardized workflow, the common practice for water samples is to concentrate NAs via filtration using varying pore size membranes. Using the smallest pore is assumed to be most efficient for NAs capture from a wide range of material (including sub-cellular particles), however a trade-off must occur between detection of a meaningful molecular signal and cost/time effort when processing samples using fine pore membranes.
Comparative studies involving formal efficiency assessments are lacking, which restricts informed decision-making around an optimized sampling approach for applications such as biosurveillance (i.e., detection and monitoring of target taxa - nuisance organisms, endangered and indicato...