Published May 21, 2020 | Version v1
Dataset Open

In silico and empirical evaluation of twelve metabarcoding primer sets for insectivorous diet analyses

Description

During the most recent decade, environmental DNA metabarcoding approaches have been both developed and improved to minimize the biological and technical biases in these protocols. However, challenges remain, notably those relating to primer design. In the current study, we comprehensively assessed the performance of ten COI and two 16S primer pairs for eDNA metabarcoding, including novel and previously published primers. We used a combined approach of in silico, in vivo-mock community (33 arthropod taxa from 16 orders), and guano-based analyses to identify primer sets that would maximize arthropod detection and taxonomic identification, successfully identify the predator (bat) species and minimize the time and financial costs of the experiment. We focused on two insectivorous bat species which live together in mixed-colonies: the greater horseshoe bat (Rhinolophus ferrumequinum) and Geoffroy's bat (Myotis emarginatus). We found that primer degeneracy is the main factor that influences arthropod detection in silico and mock community analyses, while amplicon length is critical for the detection of arthropods from degraded DNA samples. Our guano-based results highlight the importance of detecting and identifying both predator and prey, as guano samples can be contaminated by other insectivorous species. Moreover, we demonstrate that amplifying bat DNA does not reduce the primers' capacity to detect arthropods. We therefore recommend the simultaneous identification of predator and prey. Finally, our results suggest that up to one third of prey occurrences may be unreliable and are probably not of primary interest in diet studies, which may decrease the relevance of combining several primer sets instead of using a single efficient one. In conclusion, this study provides a pragmatic framework for eDNA primer selection with respect to scientific and methodological constraints.

Notes

Funding provided by: Agence Nationale de la Recherche
Crossref Funder Registry ID: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100001665
Award Number: ANR-11-IDEX-0007

Funding provided by: Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique
Crossref Funder Registry ID: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100006488

Funding provided by: European Regional Development Fund
Crossref Funder Registry ID: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100008530

Funding provided by: LABEX ECOFECT
Crossref Funder Registry ID:
Award Number: ANR-11-LABX-0048

Funding provided by: CBGP laboratory,
Crossref Funder Registry ID:

Funding provided by: Nouvelle-Aquitaine Region,
Crossref Funder Registry ID:

Funding provided by: Nouvelle-Aquitaine DREAL
Crossref Funder Registry ID:

Funding provided by: LabEx CeMEB
Crossref Funder Registry ID:
Award Number: ANR-10-LABX-04-01

Files

COI_16S_22_Guanos_abundances_Run2.zip

Files (4.6 GB)

Name Size Download all
md5:b9875122f9ac94e25280476d93af23ad
21.7 kB Download
md5:a4dbfbf06f31aff4e2be2878cf12bb30
3.8 MB Preview Download
md5:69912e210f801f9b9db496c87c0c9bfd
238.7 kB Preview Download
md5:1851a4562242a41e90ad7ac7a2b78698
109.3 kB Download
md5:303d3f3e2c3668f8d66674794b680409
396.6 kB Preview Download
md5:025b5b17c1a15c7899eba8fc27ecaab2
525.0 kB Download
md5:6866c08cd139474cbb36327ba9d453af
349.2 kB Preview Download
md5:e9213cf0170ea33f79be16074d59b0ba
101.8 kB Download
md5:06d652403c0dc6561c747a9f11177b04
724.3 MB Preview Download
md5:d77827d981088a98deb429092b29e366
762.1 MB Preview Download
md5:0669e17cee88a4368f84b430a6e003ca
611.8 MB Preview Download
md5:f1468a249bc69164a8fa585c9745cf12
575.4 MB Preview Download
md5:b8e58bacacd1a99c9da1a99d0d2014b4
56.5 MB Preview Download
md5:707d6a8fa48e201afc73ed05ff7770cf
938.8 MB Preview Download
md5:ecbde97859566ab250f477d463e016d9
915.4 MB Preview Download
md5:fd40b53addf8eda962d0177d73e37791
9.8 kB Download
md5:0e77b32606c9d72e56e9408a534097ea
12.2 kB Download
md5:fdba529bb382fbb3c4b15d953d78ee02
13.8 kB Download
md5:7547208a0c015dd79e8b4fdf109ea18e
18.6 kB Download
md5:9094888888a9a4da3bd09462384e4540
61.1 kB Download
md5:e87914751bff62d3b7f25fe081aea4bc
37.7 kB Download
md5:c3132ee3d48749ced718ca5de02a1cf2
12.1 kB Download
md5:4ed06cc49add30b9657129cbd3129b3a
13.1 kB Download
md5:81074529d01f4be52248343ac142a977
10.7 kB Download
md5:2f9850f14608a1b2518a007678f5ee5a
15.0 kB Download

Additional details

Related works

Is cited by
10.1002/ece3.6362 (DOI)