Great questions! The cost of eDNA sampling will depend on the situation and environment to some extent. Its use in water is quite well developed. There is where we currently see the most research and cost comparisons. For instance, from 2017 (https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03632415.2017.1276329) “the total effort expended to analyze 36 eDNA samples was approximately 6.8 person-hours. At an hourly pay rate of $22.51/h, the labor cost associated with analyzing our samples was $153. Cost of screening the samples with ddPCR was $4.02 per sample (Nathan et al. 2014) plus the cost of DNA extraction at $8.49 per sample. Therefore, the overall cost of analyzing our 36 eDNA samples and six control samples was $525 (materials) + $153 (labor) = $678.”
This labor costs are compared to electro-fishing (two forms: single-pass and triple-pass): “Total effort, adjusted for crew size, to sample the full length of the 10 100-m electrofishing reaches was 90 person-hours with triple-pass electrofishing and 30 person-hours with single-pass electrofishing. Therefore, the total cost in labor to sample the full length of the 10 sample reaches was $2,026 with triple-pass electrofishing and $676 with single-pass electrofishing.” In this electro-fishing comparison, the cost of materials was not included.
I’m seeing more and more being published on various photonics/plasmonics techniques. Could be promising. I’m hearing the ultimate goal is on-site, rapid automatic pathogen identification at <5 euro/sample.
Great questions! The cost of eDNA sampling will depend on the situation and environment to some extent. Its use in water is quite well developed. There is where we currently see the most research and cost comparisons. For instance, from 2017 (https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03632415.2017.1276329) “the total effort expended to analyze 36 eDNA samples was approximately 6.8 person-hours. At an hourly pay rate of $22.51/h, the labor cost associated with analyzing our samples was $153. Cost of screening the samples with ddPCR was $4.02 per sample (Nathan et al. 2014) plus the cost of DNA extraction at $8.49 per sample. Therefore, the overall cost of analyzing our 36 eDNA samples and six control samples was $525 (materials) + $153 (labor) = $678.”
This labor costs are compared to electro-fishing (two forms: single-pass and triple-pass): “Total effort, adjusted for crew size, to sample the full length of the 10 100-m electrofishing reaches was 90 person-hours with triple-pass electrofishing and 30 person-hours with single-pass electrofishing. Therefore, the total cost in labor to sample the full length of the 10 sample reaches was $2,026 with triple-pass electrofishing and $676 with single-pass electrofishing.” In this electro-fishing comparison, the cost of materials was not included.
We have great hope that the methodologies being used in farmed animal systems can be adapted. Certainly fishes in the wild could already benefit. (https://www.researchgate.net/publication/327302106_Predicting_parasite_outbreaks_in_fish_farms_through_environmental_DNA_eDNA)
We are happy to answer any more questions you have!
Thanks!
I’m seeing more and more being published on various photonics/plasmonics techniques. Could be promising. I’m hearing the ultimate goal is on-site, rapid automatic pathogen identification at <5 euro/sample.