Reliability of non-invasive tissue sampling methods for DNA extraction in rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus)

Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) can be extracted from different tissue sources. The most commonis blood, but in some situations it can be easier to take a biopsy. In some cases when it is difficult to captureanimals, especially in wild populations, faeces and hairs can be considered as a source of DNA. This paperpresents a pilot study conducted to compare the applicability of invasive and non-invasive sampling methodsfor extracting DNA for use in genetic studies of rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus). The study included 24 rabbitsfrom the INRA 1001 strain. Blood, hair, ear biopsies and faeces were collected and used as DNA sources.Our aim was to verify the quantity of DNA obtained from different tissues using 2 or 3 types of extraction. DNAwas obtained for all tissue types and all extraction methods. DNA extraction was shown to be optimal with theLGC (Laboratory of Cellular Genetics) blood extraction method. With regard to non-invasive methods, DNAextraction for hair using the LGC protocol and QIAamp® DNA mini kit gave very low quantities of DNA thatcould not be used for PCR reactions. The Chelex extraction protocol gave good results for PCR but could notbe quantified. DNA extracted from faeces is a viable source of DNA for determining individual genotypes. Theuse of such non-invasive samples as a source of genetic material is a recent and very promising technique,especially for the study of endangered species, but these techniques are still too unreliable and costly toaltogether replace invasive techniques when the latter are possible