title: Universal DNA-based methods for assessing the diet of grazing livestock and wildlife from feces.
abstract: Because of the demand for controlling livestock diets, two methods that characterize the DNA of plants present in feces were developed. After DNA extraction from fecal samples, a short fragment of the chloroplastic trnL intron was amplified by PCR using a universal primer pair for plants. The first method generates a signature that is the electrophoretic migration pattern of the PCR product. The second method consists of sequencing several hundred DNA fragments from the PCR product through pyrosequencing. These methods were validated with a blind analysis of feces from concentrate- and pasture-fed lambs. The signature method allowed differentiation of the two diets and confirmed the presence of concentrate in one of them. The pyrosequencing method allowed the identification of up to 25 taxa in a diet. These methods are complementary to the chemical methods already used. They could be applied to the control of diets and the study of food preferences.
authors: Laboratoire d'Ecologie Alpine, CNRS UMR 5553, Université Joseph Fourier, Grenoble Cedex 9, France.
authors: Anthony
authors: A
authors: Pegard
authors: Christian
authors: C
authors: Miquel
authors: Alice
authors: A
authors: Valentini
authors: Eric
authors: E
authors: Coissac
authors: Frédéric
authors: F
authors: Bouvier
authors: Dominique
authors: D
authors: François
authors: Pierre
authors: P
authors: Taberlet
authors: Erwan
authors: E
authors: Engel
authors: François
authors: F
authors: Pompanon
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000829:Animals, Domestic / Q000378:metabolism*; D001483:Base Sequence; D002736:Chloroplasts / Q000235:genetics; D018744:DNA, Plant / Q000032:analysis* / Q000737:chemistry; D004032:Diet; D019075:Electrophoresis, Capillary; D005243:Feces / Q000737:chemistry*; D005518:Food Preferences; D010945:Plants, Edible / Q000235:genetics; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012756:Sheep
chemical_list: D018744:DNA, Plant