Human DNA is everywhere. That's a boon for science -- and an ethical
quagmire

Date:
May 15, 2023
Source:
University of Florida
Summary:
Human environmental DNA is ubiquitous in air, soil and water samples
and can be traced to individuals, demonstrating new scientific
possibilities but raising ethical concerns around consent with
eDNA research.


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FULL STORY ==========================================================================
On the beach. In the ocean. Traveling along riverways. In muggy Florida
and chilly Ireland. Even floating through the air.

We cough, spit, shed and flush our DNA into all of these places and
countless more. Signs of human life can be found nearly everywhere,
short of isolated islands and remote mountaintops, according to a new University of Florida study.

That ubiquity is both a scientific boon and an ethical dilemma, say the
UF researchers who sequenced this widespread DNA. The DNA was of such
high quality that the scientists could identify mutations associated with disease and determine the genetic ancestry of nearby populations. They
could even match genetic information to individual participants who had volunteered to have their errant DNA recovered.

David Duffy, the UF professor of wildlife disease genomics who led the
project, says that ethically handled environmental DNA samples could
benefit fields from medicine and environmental science to archaeology
and criminal forensics. For example, researchers could track cancer
mutations from wastewater or spot undiscovered archaeological sites by
checking for hidden human DNA. Or detectives could identify suspects
from the DNA floating in the air of a crime scene.

But this level of personal information must be handled extremely
carefully.

Now, scientists and regulators must grapple with the ethical dilemmas
inherent in accidentally -- or intentionally -- sweeping up human genetic information, not from blood samples but from a scoop of sand, a vial of
water or a person's breath.

Published May 15 in Nature Ecology and Evolution, the paper by Duffy's
group outlines the relative ease of collecting human DNA nearly everywhere
they looked.

"We've been consistently surprised throughout this project at how much
human DNA we find and the quality of that DNA," Duffy said. "In most
cases the quality is almost equivalent to if you took a sample from
a person." Because of the ability to potentially identify individuals,
the researchers say that ethical guardrails are necessary for this kind
of research. The study was conducted with approval from the institutional review board of UF, which ensures that ethical guidelines are adhered
to during research studies.

"It's standard in science to make these sequences publicly available. But
that also means if you don't screen out human information, anyone can
come along and harvest this information," Duffy said. "That raises issues around consent. Do you need to get consent to take those samples? Or
institute some controls to remove human information?" Duffy's team at
UF's Whitney Laboratory for Marine Bioscience and Sea Turtle Hospital has successfully used environmental DNA, or eDNA, to study endangered sea
turtles and the viral cancers they are susceptible to. They've plucked
useful DNA out of turtle tracks in the sand, greatly accelerating their research program.

The scientists knew that human eDNA would end up in their turtle samples
and probably many other places they looked. With modern genetic sequencing technology, it's now straightforward to sequence the DNA of every organism
in an environmental sample. The questions were how much human DNA there
would be and whether it was intact enough to harbor useful information.

The team found quality human DNA in the ocean and rivers surrounding
the Whitney Lab, both near town and far from human settlement, as well
as in sand from isolated beaches. In a test facilitated by the National
Park Service, the researchers traveled to part of a remote island never
visited by people. It was free of human DNA, as expected. But they were
able to retrieve DNA from voluntary participants' footprints in the
sand and could sequence parts of their genomes, with permission from
the anonymous participants.

Duffy also tested the technique in his native Ireland. Tracing along a
river that winds through town on its way to the ocean, Duffy found human
DNA everywhere but the remote mountain stream where the river starts,
far from civilization.

The scientists also collected room air samples from a veterinary
hospital. They recovered DNA matching the staff, the animal patient and
common animal viruses.

Now that it's clear human eDNA can be readily sampled, Duffy says it's
time for policymakers and scientific communities to take issues around
consent and privacy seriously and balance them against the possible
benefits of studying this errant DNA.

"Any time we make a technological advance, there are beneficial things
that the technology can be used for and concerning things that the
technology can be used for. It's no different here," Duffy said. "These
are issues we are trying to raise early so policy makers and society
have time to develop regulations."
* RELATED_TOPICS
o Health_&_Medicine
# Human_Biology # Genes # Forensics #
Diseases_and_Conditions
o Mind_&_Brain
# Brain-Computer_Interfaces # Memory # Social_Psychology
# K-12_Education
* RELATED_TERMS
o Environmental_impact_assessment o DNA_repair o Bioethics o
Collaboration o PCB o Pollution o Veganism o Epidemiology

========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by University_of_Florida. Note: Content
may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Liam Whitmore, Mark McCauley, Jessica A. Farrell, Maximilian R.

Stammnitz, Samantha A. Koda, Narges Mashkour, Victoria Summers, Todd
Osborne, Jenny Whilde, David J. Duffy. Inadvertent human genomic
bycatch and intentional capture raise beneficial applications
and ethical concerns with environmental DNA. Nature Ecology &
Evolution, 2023; DOI: 10.1038/s41559-023-02056-2 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/05/230515132002.htm

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