Collaboration Seeks to Reduce Illegal Bushmeat Trade through Use of Barcodes
January 30, 2006

Students at High Tech High, in collaboration with the San Diego Zoo, have successfully begun an innovative study of forensic conservation biology. The focus of the project is the identification of African bushmeat through a barcode-like process using DNA analysis.

Bushmeat, a term referring to the slaughter and trafficking of wild animals for food, has become a serious area of concern for conservationists in the last five years. The illegal trade of bushmeat obtained from endangered animal species is considered to be seriously affecting the populations of these animals. Unfortunately, processed meat obtained from these sources can be difficult to identify with accuracy.

The collaborative effort was developed by Oliver Ryder, Ph.D., head of the Genetics Division of the San Diego Zoo’s department of Conservation and Research for Endangered Species (CRES), and Jay Vavra, biotechnology teacher at High Tech High. A biotechnology class of 9th through 12th graders taught by Vavra successfully extracted, isolated, amplified, and sequenced DNA from dried meat samples. The project used ostrich, beef, and turkey jerky to simulate bushmeat samples. In collaboration with CRES genetics researchers, the students were able to partially or completely sequence the gene Cytochrome Oxidase I from each dried meat sample, then correctly align the sequences generated with existing genetic databases to determine the species of origin. The experimental work done at High Tech High was supported by Invitrogen Corporation and San Diego School-to-Career.

It is hoped that this new innovation will be incorporated into efforts to stop illegal bushmeat trafficking undertaken through the Consortium for the Barcode of Life. The consortium is an international collective effort focused on DNA barcoding for taxonomic identification of plant and animal species. The application of DNA barcoding to the African bushmeat crisis may facilitate more rapid and effective identification of threatened and endangered species that are being decimated for the bushmeat trade.

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