Genetics ‘a new tool to help boost water vole conservation’
Scientists have analysed the DNA of one of the country’s most threatened mammals.
Genetics could be used as a new tool to help boost water vole conservation in the UK, after scientists analysed the DNA of one of the country’s most threatened mammals.
Researchers at the Wellcome Sanger Institute have sequenced the genome – a complete set of genetic instructions – of the European water vole (Arvicola amphibius), a semi-aquatic rodent under serious threat from habitat loss and predation by the American mink.
Details of the genome, generated in collaboration with animal conservation charity the Wildwood Trust, have been published through Wellcome Open Research and are available to researchers and conservationists looking to better manage reintroduction efforts.
Professor Mark Blaxter, of the Wellcome Sanger Institute, said: “The European water vole is a prime example of a British species whose genetic diversity we’re in danger of losing before we’ve had the chance to fully record it.
