erroneous. In other words:
science has searched for
Nessie, and the results have
come back negative.
In the 2016 book Hunting
Monsters, I noted that the
ability of scientists to search
for and analyse the genetic
material that living things
leave in their environment
- so-called environmental
DNA, or eDNA – might
provide the ultimate arbiter
of the presence or absence of
a mystery creature in the
loch. Gemmell was inspired.
“I was thinking how we
might use eDNA to search
for and identify creatures
that live in areas hard to
investigate using traditional
approaches, such as deep
oceans and subterranean
water systems. Loch Ness
seemed a perfect fit for that
sort of project,” he says. “I’m
not a Nessie believer, but I’m
open to the idea that I might
be wrong. This project is
about understanding the
biodiversity of Loch Ness,
with the added bonus being
that we might find evidence of
something new that may
explain the monster legend.”
According to Gemmell, the
study could also have benefits
for our understanding of the
health of Loch Ness and its
future management. He’s
currently awaiting the results
of the study.A Species search
The study of eDNA has
proved an invaluable toolWHAT IS eDNA?
D
NA extracted from an
organism can reveal a
great deal about its
relatedness to other living
things, both in the small-
scale sense of how it
compares with other
populations within its
species, and in the broader
sense of where it fits within
the tree of life.
But if it only takes a tiny
sample of organic tissue – a
single skin or gut cell, for
example – for DNA to be
extracted, then could
DNA-retrieval techniques be
sophisticated enough for us
to collect DNA that living
things leave in their
environments, via their shed
cells, urine and faeces? The
answer is yes. In a series of
studies that first appeared in
print during the 1990s,
ecologists and geneticists
worldwide have shown howthe presence and identity of
organisms in an area can be
extracted from soil,
groundwater, ice, freshwater
and seawater via so-called
environmental DNA or eDNA.
By collecting water from Loch
Ness, scientist Prof Neil
Gemmell and his team hope
that they have obtained eDNA
from the loch environment.
They have also taken samples
from nearby lochs to analyse
their eDNA too. Back in the
laboratory, the samples will
be analysed, and any eDNA
will be identified and
extracted. The samples are
then profiled and compared
to those already in genetic
databanks. Many species
already known to be present
in the loch will be identified
in this way. The hope is that
species new to the area, and
perhaps even new to science,
will be discovered as well.Most eDNA found so far belongs to living species already known
to science. However, some eDNA has been found from extinct
animals, like mammoths and giant sloths. This proves that eDNA
can last for thousands of years in the right conditions.