Toxicological screening and DNA sequencing detects contamination and adulteration in regulated herbal medicines and supplements for diet, weight loss and cardiovascular health.

Use of herbal medicines and supplements by consumers to prevent or treat disease, particularly chronic conditions continues to grow, leading to increased awareness of the minimal regulation standards in many countries. Fraudulent, adulterated and contaminated herbal and traditional medicines and dietary supplements are a risk to consumer health, with adverse effects and events including overdose, drug-herb interactions and hospitalisation. The scope of the risk has been difficult to determine, prompting calls for new approaches, such as the combination of DNA metabarcoding and mass spectrometry used in this study.

Marine environmental DNA biomonitoring reveals seasonal patterns in biodiversity and identifies ecosystem responses to anomalous climatic events.

Marine ecosystems are changing rapidly as the oceans warm and become more acidic. The physical factors and the changes to ocean chemistry that they drive can all be measured with great precision. Changes in the biological composition of communities in different ocean regions are far more challenging to measure because most biological monitoring methods focus on a limited taxonomic or size range.

Combined DNA, toxicological and heavy metal analyses provides an auditing toolkit to improve pharmacovigilance of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM).

Globally, there has been an increase in the use of herbal remedies including traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). There is a perception that products are natural, safe and effectively regulated, however, regulatory agencies are hampered by a lack of a toolkit to audit ingredient lists, adulterants and constituent active compounds. Here, for the first time, a multidisciplinary approach to assessing the molecular content of 26 TCMs is described.

From benchtop to desktop: important considerations when designing amplicon sequencing workflows.

Amplicon sequencing has been the method of choice in many high-throughput DNA sequencing (HTS) applications. To date there has been a heavy focus on the means by which to analyse the burgeoning amount of data afforded by HTS. In contrast, there has been a distinct lack of attention paid to considerations surrounding the importance of sample preparation and the fidelity of library generation.

Metabarcoding avian diets at airports: implications for birdstrike hazard management planning.

Background: Wildlife collisions with aircraft cost the airline industry billions of dollars per annum and represent a public safety risk. Clearly, adapting aerodrome habitats to become less attractive to hazardous wildlife will reduce the incidence of collisions. Formulating effective habitat management strategies relies on accurate species identification of high-risk species.

Deep sequencing of plant and animal DNA contained within traditional Chinese medicines reveals legality issues and health safety concerns.

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has been practiced for thousands of years, but only within the last few decades has its use become more widespread outside of Asia. Concerns continue to be raised about the efficacy, legality, and safety of many popular complementary alternative medicines, including TCMs. Ingredients of some TCMs are known to include derivatives of endangered, trade-restricted species of plants and animals, and therefore contravene the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) legislation.

Application of STR markers in wildlife forensic casework involving Australian black-cockatoos (Calyptorhynchus spp.).

Parrots and cockatoos are highly prized aviary birds and the demands for such species has fuelled their illegal trade and harvest from the wild. Here we report on three forensic case studies involving black-cockatoos (Calyptorhynchus spp.) endemic to Australia.

Egg forensics: an appraisal of DNA sequencing to assist in species identification of illegally smuggled eggs.

Psittaciformes (parrots and cockatoos) are charismatic birds, their plumage and capacity for learning make them highly sought after pets. The illegal trade in parrots and cockatoos poses a serious threat to the viability of native populations; in addition, species transported to non-endemic areas may potentially vector disease and genetically 'pollute' local native avifauna. To reduce the logistical difficulties associated with trafficking live birds, smugglers often transport eggs.