Genetic Testing of Wildlife and Pets
Life-history information such as age and sex of animals is fundamental for wildlife management and is used to estimate the risk of extinction, the management of invasive species, and the sustainable harvest of fisheries.
Unfortunately, most animals do not have a practical method to determine age and sex. However, this information can be determined from the molecular level such as their DNA, gene expression, and protein levels. From ether a tissue biopsy, blood, or saliva sample we can determine the life-history information from a range of animals. See below for the range of life-history information that we can obtain from DNA.
Sex identification
We can identify sex markers in your species of interest using a range of molecular techniques.
Epigenetic Age
Age can be predicted from the DNA of an individual animal using an epigenetic marker called DNA methylation. This provides a non-lethal alternative for an important life-history trait.
Lifespan
DNA can be used to determine the longevity of animals which may be useful with long-lived species.
Sexual maturity
Knowledge of when a species is sexual mature and if sexual senescence occurs is important information for population growth analyses.
Stress
A range of stress markers can be found for animals to rapidly determine their overall health within the environment.
Pet Genomics
Whether you are a breeder or would like to know more about your own pets we have range of services and genetic tests available. We can design genetic tests for a range of traits, such as fur coat, adult weight, and breed lineage.
We can work with any species, breed, and sample type, just tell us what characteristic you are interested and we will make a genetic test for it. Read more below or in our booklet.
Offspring Probabilities
We can determine the probability of heritable traits being carried over to the proportion of offspring.
Genetic Matching
We can do genetic matching and build a family tree of animals to find siblings and parents. May be used just to find who is related to who or by breeders to reduce inbreeding and undesirable traits.
Physical Traits
From fur coats and disease susceptibility, we can test for a range of traits and can make a range of DNA tests for animals.
Find their breed and origin
We can determine the breed or variant mix of most animals. Not just limited to cats and dogs, we can work with a range of species. In some cases, we can determine the population or location of where the animal originated. Commonly done with native or wild animals.