Free DNA Sexing of Reptiles! Exciting News!

[Sdaji]

Hi all,

could the people who offered monitor, Chondro and Rough-scaled Python sloughs please get in touch (and anyone else highly keen to get their sloughs sent to the lab) by email or PM. The lab is ready to start testing or store the sloughs, I'll give you labelling and postal details.

Still seeking colubrid sloughs!

Nothing much to report at this point. The last I heard from the lab they were planning to get testing this week with the samples I provided them with. Fingers crossed we'll have results soon. I'm as anxious as anyone at this point!

 

[Agame]

Hi all,

Found this forum when searching for a lab to sex my corn snake with his/her DNA. I've seen that this thread is about a year old, is there anything new on this subject?

Im interested in this kind of things, other possibilities than the "standard" hemipenis eversion, please let me know if this test what you describe is possible?

Thanks,

Agame

 

[garthy]

Hi all,

Found this forum when searching for a lab to sex my corn snake with his/her DNA. I've seen that this thread is about a year old, is there anything new on this subject?

Im interested in this kind of things, other possibilities than the "standard" hemipenis eversion, please let me know if this test what you describe is possible?

Thanks,

Agame

ummm, if u r in Australia, then u need to euthenaise (sp) the snake straight away. It is illegal and immoral to keep corn snakes... or are you just having a lend of us?

 

[GeckoJosh]

ummm, if u r in Australia, then u need to euthenaise (sp) the snake straight away. It is illegal and immoral to keep corn snakes... or are you just having a lend of us?

Calm down, who says she is in Oz? We have plenty of overseas members
You try asking a simple question b4 jumping to conclusions

 

[Agame]

Well i had this one long time ago (that time i was also wondering about sexing with DNA), i still have some old skin from this snake and you can extract DNA from this. I was just curious if there have any improvement on this DNA subject. I'm from the Netherlands, i know this species is now IUCN red list..

 

[Agame]

So im still interested in this whole DNA thing, and is it possible for agamid species? Or is this test for just snakes?

 

[Sdaji]

Wow, this is a bump of an old thread. Actually, I thought there was more recent information on it. I see my last post six days before the fires, and they pretty much stopped my involvement in the project immediately. I haven't been in touch with the lab which was working on it for about six months, and the last I heard they had run out of funds and the project was at a standstill with no immediate prospect of getting moving again. It looks like the method is possible, but developing the protocols is still too costly to get things to be commercially viable.

Having said that, I have appointments in labs in the adjacent building at the same university this week, so I might drop in and have a chat while I'm in the area. I'll tell you now what I'll find out though; still no progress and none likely in a hurry.

The method apparently works even in crocodiles, which aren't even genetically sex determined (I haven't looked into how that makes sense!). If it works on crocodiles, it also might work on TDSD dragons, but don't hold your breath waiting for a commercially available test. I don't see why it wouldn't work on Corn Snakes.

If I had to guess I would say that the first place DNA sex testing for reptiles becomes commercially available will be the USA.

 

[Agame]

Thank you for your quick reply. It seems like a great research and too bad they stopped the project. So Crocs dont have sex chromosomes, that seems wierd Oke, i will lay this at rest when you say there will be no improvement in the commercial tests for sexing reptiles.

Thanks again and i hope when you know more you will tell the world, because there are a lot of people who are interested in this kind of test!

 

[Sdaji]

Nope, crocodiles don't have a genetic sex determination system. They start out as embryoes which can go either way, and temperature flicks the gender switch one way or the other.

The genetic testing behind this is reasonably understood, but getting the procedure streamlined enough to be commercially viable is another story. I would love to be expecting to be on the team which finally makes this a reality, but unfortunately I don't even know where that team will be, let alone being a part of it.

 

[-Katana-]

NECRO BUMP.

Sdaji,

How is the DNA testing going?

I think this is going to be a vital service.

Cheers,
~Katana.

 

[Waterrat]

Sdaji may have a more accurate news but I have been in touch with the project leader over a period of time and it came to grinding hold due to lack of funding (as usual).
Obviously, I was interested in the progress on GTP testing and apparently there was too much contamination (not as in dirt) and the results were less than reliable.
Pity.

 

[GeckoJosh]

Sdaji may have a more accurate news but I have been in touch with the project leader over a period of time and it came to grinding hold due to lack of funding (as usual).
Obviously, I was interested in the progress on GTP testing and apparently there was too much contamination (not as in dirt) and the results were less than reliable.
Pity.

Thats a pity, I could imagine after the snakes eaten a few birds/rats there would be all types of trace DNA on the skin, was this the case?

 

[Waterrat]

No, I didn't mean physical contamination on the skin, they used sloughs from captive bred animals. There was a "noise" in the DNA in the analytical process.
Sdaji, help!

 

[-Katana-]

WR, aren't DERM still asking for GTP samples?

 

[Waterrat]

WR, aren't DERM still asking for GTP samples?

I have never heard of that - what would they do with them?

 

[-Katana-]

I knew I read it somewhere on the DERM site....

http://www.derm.qld.gov.au/register/p01389aa.pdf

On page 9 of the document....

DNA and microchips
The use of DNA or microchip technologies is voluntary, unless you receive a notice from the chief executive directing you to either implant an approved microchip or take and register a biological tissue sample with an approved scientific institution. If you receive such a notice you must comply with it.
There is an incentive in place to encourage licensees to either take and register a biological tissue sample with an approved scientific institution or implant an approved microchip. If you keep any of the following species under a recreational wildlife licence and you choose not to either implant an approved microchip or take and register a biological tissue sample with an approved scientific institution, the licence fee will be twice that normally paid for the licence.
1) glossy-black cockatoo (Calyptohynchus lathami)
2) palm cockatoo (Probosciger aterrimus)
3) green python – Australian population (Condropython viridis).

 

[Waterrat]

Yes, but they never ask for any.

 

[-Katana-]

*shrugs*

Oh well, there you go.

 

[Sdaji]

I haven't had anything to do with that lab for over a year now, and the project was put on hold due to a lack of funding well before a year ago.

I don't think there was any issue with DNA contamination (except in the case of some sloughs which apparently arrived filthy with snake $#!+ (I never physically saw any of the fresh samples other than the ones I provided myself), but there were issues extracting sufficient DNA. I suppose you could call the lack of clarity 'noise' but I'd describe it more as a 'lack of sound'. Don't quote me on any of that! Either way, the results were unreliable, and sorting the issues out to make the system reliable enough to use commercially was going to take more money than was available.

If more funds become available they'll continue (at least that was their attitude last time I spoke to them), but in this economic climate I wouldn't hold my breath. Most research labs are doing it pretty tough these days.

 

[Waterrat]

Thanks for clarifying it Sdaji, "lack of sound" sounds good.