Air Is Full of DNA

(nature.com)

29 points | by howrude 2 days ago ago

5 comments

  • butvacuum a day ago ago

    buried the lede, imho: we have enough DNA profiles to match their sampling up with.

    I'm always stunned when reminded that a full genome sequencing has gone from Human Genome Project's extreme cost and (edit: glacial) speed to using seqencing as the easy button.

    I hear we've also got machines that'll seqence, fit on a bench, and cost high five/low six figures. They've got issues to work out still though- iirc something about damaged sections causing issues.

    • cmrx64 a day ago ago

      four figures these days. fits in your hand. nanopore is a revolution. https://nanoporetech.com/products/sequence/minion

      there’s youtubers that have videos about doing this in a home wetlab. very achievable. some amateur soil biologists using this to try and sample microdiversity as the planet… humanifies.

      • dubi_steinkek 2 hours ago ago

        Do you have links to these youtubers? Sounds interesting

  • tim333 a day ago ago

    Cool.

    I think they had to delete all the sequencing data from the Wuhan Institute of Virology so stuff in the air wouldn't show up.

  • cmos a day ago ago

    As is the Ocean.