DNA sexing test!

Hi everybody!

I have noticed that there are many people here on Arachnoboards who wants to know the sex of their tarantula.

Try this! =D

Molecular Diagnostic Services - Dna sexing test.

MDS offers an avian testing service. Our tests are extremely accurate and with the DNA sexing we have greater than 99% accuracy. The DNA test is based on the differences in certain genes of male and female. All we require is a small drop of blood.

http://www.mdseurope.com/site/prodzoom.asp?depnum=&pcid=00124&Dealer=4594&prod=1664

/Best regards, Stefan "Phalagorn" Bergström.

how wpuld you get pede blood without harming them or yourself?

Perhaps part of a molt would work.

Wade

Hi Stefan,

i'm not entirely sure that would work, as it says the test is designed for birds. i'm pretty sure the genes controlling sex in birds are diferent to those in invertebrates, so it is unlikely that it would work (I'll look it up later). I'm sure that a similar test could be designed to work out the sex of myriopods, but i dont think there would be enough of a market for anyone to invest the time and money into developing such a test. Its a nice idea though.

Cheers,

Dan.

Perhaps part of a molt would work

Click to expand...

Not quite likely, as I think pedes molt or fluid contains, if any, too few amount of nucleus-containing cells. DNA in dead tissues also degrades rapidly and unless pede sexing involves reading a short fragment of DNA, this method will unlikely work.

Birds/dinosaurs are different in that they are archosaurs (including crocodiles, pterosaurs etc) and their mature red blood cells contain nucleuses and thus even trace amount of blood contains more than enough DNA information. Red blood cells from mammals and other reptiles have no nucleus and blood DNA tests on these animals depend mainly on their white blood cells for the DNA source.

When people extract DNA from an invertebrate, most likely they will grind up part of the animal to extract the DNA. That's ok for tarantulas with great regeneration power and they can regenerate throughout life, but I don't think we will pull a leg or cut out part of a scorpion or a pedes for this purpose.