DNA ENVIRONMENTAL SAMPLES RESEARCH – METAFUNCTIONS
November 1st, 2005
BY KEITH NUTHALLIT'S tough extracting DNA samples from microscopic organisms, but much easier to harvest such data from the environment where they live, such as soil and seawater. This concept has inspired the European Union (EU) to help launch the METAFUNCTIONS project. It aims to develop a data-mining system enabling scientists to identify genetic patterns in samples as small as a teaspoon of water. Of course, in microbiological terms, this is an ocean, and could contain thousands of different microbe species. METAFUNCTIONS tools should help scientists identify ...
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