A Piece of the Puzzle

When most people build a puzzle, they are not dealing with the issue of animal conservation; however, the Mitochondrial Genomics Creative Inquiry project, mentored by Dr. Antonio Baeza and graduate students Alyssa Baker and Natalie Stephens in the Department of Biological Sciences, is helping connect the pieces of the animal conservation puzzle. This team creates mitochondrial genomic resources for endangered species. These resources allow scientists from around the world to match DNA from samples taken in the field to the species in which it belongs. Knowing a species’ location in the environment informs the overall conservation efforts for these species.

The videos, posters and papers that the team creates include all the mitochondrial genetic information of that specific organism such as proteins, ribosomal ribonucleic acid (rRNA) and transfer ribosomal ribonucleic acid (tRNA). Animal cells contain more mitochondria than cellular nuclei; therefore, using mitochondrial DNA makes it easier to identify different species because they have a thousand times more mitochondrial DNA than nuclear DNA.

Endangered species are sometimes difficult to track, but by using DNA samples and mitochondrial genomes, it is easier to detect their presence or absence. The Creative Inquiry team’s focus is on species with an endangered or vulnerable status that have little genomic documentation, such as the leopard shark, alligator snapping turtle, giant river otter and volcano rabbit. “What we’re doing is a piece of the puzzle to help in the conservation biology of these species,” Baeza said.

Using scat or water samples, researchers can obtain DNA and match that DNA sequence with the reference mitochondrial genome that this Creative Inquiry team created for that species. A match indicates the presence of the species in the area. Hopefully, mitochondrial resources will make the detection of endangered species easier benefiting the overall conservation efforts for these species. “It shows us how we can work better to help benefit the animals if we can understand them more from a DNA level,” Chase Murawski, a junior microbiology major, said.

Beginning a career in research can be a daunting but meaningful experience. “Coming into college, I thought I wanted to do research, but I’d never actually done anything outside our school labs, so I wanted to get involved with something like [this project],” Kate Fee, a junior biological sciences major, said. Fee is compiling the mitochondrial genome of the alligator snapping turtle. Commercial fishing, hook ingestion and harvesting threaten this animal. She compiles the genome so that all the published research on that species can be found in one place. Then she creates visualizations of the genome, which can be used by conservation teams to establish the presence of the species and inform their conservation efforts such as habitat restorations and species reintroductions.

Baeza not only exposes his Creative Inquiry students to animals throughout the world, but he also exposes them to peers from around the world through an International Virtual Exchange (IVE) program. Through the IVE, students collaborate with peers from Mexico, Peru, Colombia, Costa Rica and El Salvador. This not only provides students with an opportunity to collaborate with people from around the world but also teaches them a lesson on empathy. The Creative Inquiry team hears from international students about the reality of conservation needs for endangered species in other countries. This teaches the students that even though these conservation issues are not happening at home, they still impact real people around the world.

Slowly, but surely, the giant puzzle that is endangered species conservation efforts is being put together.