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BarcodingGO : A problem‐based approach to teach concepts related to environmental‐DNA and bioinformatics
Author(s) -
Nunes Rhewter,
Bem Oliveira Ivone,
Araújo Dias Priscila,
Bidinotto Alexandre Borges,
Campos Telles Mariana Pires
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
biochemistry and molecular biology education
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.34
H-Index - 39
eISSN - 1539-3429
pISSN - 1470-8175
DOI - 10.1002/bmb.21424
Subject(s) - environmental dna , context (archaeology) , pipeline (software) , analogy , computer science , representation (politics) , code (set theory) , genomics , data science , computational biology , biodiversity , biology , ecology , genome , gene , genetics , paleontology , linguistics , philosophy , set (abstract data type) , politics , political science , law , programming language
In this paper, we propose and describe a new approach, named BarcodingGO, to teach environmental DNA and bioinformatics concepts to undergraduate or graduate students in molecular biology‐related fields. The learning pipeline proposed here aims to solve a simulated environmental monitoring problem, in which a biodiversity survey of a particular region is needed to assess the impact of an environmental disaster. Biological surveys, in the context of environmental DNA studies, are performed by analyzing the DNA released by organisms living in a specific environment. We proposed a scenario in which quick response (QR) codes represented a given environmental DNA, and they were positioned in a scattered pattern across two regions of the classroom (representing pre and post scenarios for a particular environmental disaster). The QR codes redirect to a page that contained a fictional representation of an animal or a plant. Students then survey the region's biodiversity using QR code scanning applications on their cell phones by “capturing” these organisms as an analogy to the Pokémon GO game of the international Pokémon franchise. We believe this method (or even an adaptation of it) can be an essential tool to engage students in molecular biology classes. Moreover, this approach can help to teach how modern genomics and bioinformatics tools can be applied to solve real problems in conservation biology.