The acquisition of tissue samples from wild populations is a constant challenge in conservation biology, especially for endangered species and protected species where non-lethal sampling is the only option. Whole blood has been suggested as a non-lethal sample type that contains a high percentage of body-wide and genome-wide transcripts and therefore can be used to assess the transcriptional status of an individual, and to infer a high percentage of the genome. However, only limited quantities of blood can be non-lethally sampled from small species and it is not known if enough genetic material is contained in only a few drops of blood, which represents the upper limit of sample collection for some small species. In this study, we developed a non-lethal sampling method, the laboratory protocols and a bioinformatic pipeline to sequence and assemble the whole blood transcriptome, using Illumina RNA-Seq, from wild greater mouse-eared bats (Myotis myotis). For optimal results, both ribosomal and globin RNAs must be removed before library construction. Treatment of DNase is recommended but not required enabling the use of smaller amounts of starting RNA. A large proportion of protein-coding genes (61%) in the genome were expressed in the blood transcriptome, comparable to brain (65%), kidney (63%) and liver (58%) transcriptomes, and up to 99% of the mitogenome (excluding D-loop) was recovered in the RNA-Seq data. In conclusion, this non-lethal blood sampling method provides an opportunity for a genome-wide transcriptomic study of small, endangered or critically protected species, without sacrificing any individuals. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 10. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 26 April 2018.
All research outputs
#4,823,456
of 32,790,512 outputs
Outputs from Molecular Ecology Resources
#589
of 2,059 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#49,204
of 292,773 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Molecular Ecology Resources
#8
of 22 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 32,790,512 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done well and is in the 85th percentile: it's in the top 25% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 2,059 research outputs from this source. They typically receive more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 10.0. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 71% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 292,773 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done well, scoring higher than 83% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 22 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 63% of its contemporaries.
