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Updated: Jun 7, 2026

Electricity-Free, Sequential Nucleic Acid and Protein Isolation
Published on: May 15, 2012
Trade-offs between reducing complex terminology and producing accurate interpretations from environmental DNA:
Naiara Rodriguez-Ezpeleta1, Olivier Morissette2, Colin W Bean3
1AZTI Basque Research and Technology Alliance (BRTA), Marine Research, Sukarrieta, Spain.
Abstract:
In a recent paper, "Environmental DNA: What's behind the term? Clarifying the terminology and recommendations for its future use in biomonitoring," Pawlowski et al. argue that the term eDNA should be used to refer to the pool of DNA isolated from environmental samples, as opposed to only extra-organismal DNA from macro-organisms. We agree with this view. However, we are concerned that their proposed two-level terminology specifying sampling environment and targeted taxa is overly simplistic and might hinder rather than improve clear communication about environmental DNA and its use in biomonitoring. This terminology is based on categories that are often difficult to assign and uninformative, and it overlooks a fundamental distinction within eDNA: the type of DNA (organismal or extra-organismal) from which ecological interpretations are derived.
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