Bamfield Community Huu-ay-aht
Abalone Project

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- DNA footprinting

Many restaurants in the Vancouver area offer abalone on their menu. Imagine yourself sitting down in a restaurant and wanting to order abalone. You ask where the abalone is from because you know British Columbia’s Pinto Abalone is threatened. You want to be sure that what you are about to eat is not pushing abalone towards extinction. How can you be sure of the species of abalone once it is on your dinner plate?

Dr. Ruth Withler of the Pacific Biological Station has figured out a way using DNA footprinting! This is similar to human DNA fingerprinting. A small tissue sample is taken from the animal. DNA is extracted from this sample so scientists can look at the genes. Because DNA is so incredibly small, scientists rely on the specialized equipment of a PCR (polymerase chain reaction) machine to work with the genes. A PCR machine makes millions of copies of a gene so that there is enough of a sample to be able to work with and identify. The code they see when they look at the gene is a bit like the bar code you find on your groceries. Some genes look different for every individual, while others only differ between species. Withler discovered the gene lysin looks different in each species of Abalone. By looking for the gene that expresses lysin in an abalone the scientist can identify the species of abalone on your dinner plate. Hopefully abalone poachers will be deterred by the knowledge that footprints are left behind after the crime!

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