First Dog DNA Program Launches in Europe
January 21, 2016 – Knoxville, Tennessee USA
For the first time in the UK, DNA technology is being used to fight another type of crime: dog fouling. The program is being championed by Councillor Darren Rodwell and the entire London Borough of Barking and Dagenham Council. Rodwell noted, “Dog mess not only spoils our streets, it’s also a health hazard and especially to young children.”
Barking and Dagenham has fast-tracked launching the program to hold dog owners responsible to clean up their own dog’s mess or be fined. Councillor Rodwell said they decided to, “get really touch on dog mess and pet owners who do not act in a socially responsible way.” He elaborated further, “the vast majority of dog owners in Barking and Dagenham are socially responsible, but unfortunately a selfish few think it’s OK to not clean up after their pet.”
January 21, 2016 is the soon-approaching launch date where there will be a mobile vehicle to collect the DNA samples with pet owners and their canine friends. It is a simple, painless process that starts with a saliva “swab” after which the profile is added to the database registry. Local registration at the borough will be lead by Gary Downie, Managing Director of PooPrints UK, part of US-based BioPet Laboratories – parent company of the PooPrints program. BioPet Laboratories have plans to expand into Europe by adding an initial facility in England within the next 24 months.
The overall effectiveness of the PooPrints DNA waste management program in the U.S. is extremely high. Two major value points PooPrints delivers to major apartment homes and communities are:
- 99.9% Accuracy on DNA profile matching
- Up to 95% Reduction in waste reports by properties
Local dog DNA registration at Barking & Dagenham will be lead by PooPrints UK, part of U.S.-based BioPet Laboratories, parent company of PooPrints. BioPet is planning an expansion from the U.S. to Europe. PooPrints has plans to build a DNA testing laboratory in England within 24 months to serve the entire United Kingdom.
Learn More About PooPrints
PooPrints is an effective waste management program, matching un-scooped waste to the canine offender through DNA. PooPrints is the original commercial DNA Pet Waste Management service with a half-decade of experience working directly with Property Management: Over fifteen hundred multifamily communities in all 50 United States, Canada, and Europe.
Learn More about BioPet Laboratories
BioPet Laboratories is an international biotechnology company specializing in animal genetics. Just outside the Great Smoky Mountains, our full-service laboratory is located in Knoxville, TN, and provides comprehensive DNA analysis, reporting, research, and development.
Press Contact
Jason Manarchuck
- Growth Strategist / Founder
- High Profile Enterprises
- 15 Emory Place Knoxville, TN 37917
- Email: jason@highprofile.enterprises
- Direct / USA: +01-865-776-9159
THE SCIENCE BEHIND POOPRINTS
Our Standards
Electronic pipettes, analytical balances, reagent cold storage, etc. must pass maintenance, yearly calibration, and certification from an ISO/IEC 17025:2005 accredited outside provider. Considered the industry gold standard in medium to high throughput in genetic analysis, our Applied Biosystems/ThermoFisher 3730 DNA Analyzer is also certified yearly by an AB service engineer.
Our laboratory analyst must complete training, evaluation, and on-going proficiency testing in each category before moving on to analyze our customer samples.
These standards allow BioPet Laboratories to offer precise and reproducible DNA fragment analysis.
To begin PooPrints analysis, we extract genomic DNA and use microsatellite (STR) fragment analysis to establish genotypes of 15 loci (each with 2 possible alleles) plus a gender marker. In reference, the FBI core panel for its CODIS database consist of 13 loci plus a gender marker (1). Our 15 loci, each with hundreds of allele combinations, give us the high probability of producing a unique genetic ‘fingerprint’ from any sample type – buccal swab, feces, tissue, semen, etc.
A genotype yielded from a waste sample is simply compared to all buccal swab genotypes from that property. For a Match to be resulted, the genotypes MUST completely match on every available allele with no discrepancy. For this reason, a false positive match is extremely unlikely.
BioPet’s statistics are calculated from a population of over 15,000 individual dogs with unique genetic profiles. This allows us to accurately predict the allele frequency, genotype frequency, and thus profile frequency. For every Match, there is a probability based on the profile frequency within the population. This will determine the likelihood that another matching genotype exists in addition to the reported match. This should not be confused with the idea that another dog matches instead of the reported match.
In all of our calculations, these probabilities are upwards of 1 in 850,000,000,000 chance that another dog matches in addition to the reported match.
How does the lab differentiate samples that are contaminated?
Cells in the body contain the same nuclear DNA. The exceptions to this being the male and female gametes as well as mature red blood cells. When we extract DNA from feces, we are extracting DNA from cells. These cells are readily sloughed off during excretion as the feces moves through the intestines. Therefore, in the most basic of comparisons, DNA from cells from the intestines should be identical to DNA extracted from cells in the urine, buccal cells found in saliva, and tissue and hair cells found in fur.
Cross contamination of a fecal sample is possible in highly used green spaces. In these rare cases, we will detect at least 2 genotypes within one sample. Alleles amplify in different ways; some have lower intensity than others. Therefore we make no attempt to decipher what DNA profile is at a higher concentration. We will not discern what allele belongs to what dog, and will therefore fail the sample as contaminated. We receive thousands of waste samples each year and this occurrence is extremely rare.
For our purpose, urine is not a reliable source for nuclear DNA. Urine from healthy animals should not contain enough cells to produce a strong genetic profile using our current extraction protocols. Certain sample sources, like urine and saliva, require more concentration of the eluate to produce quality template DNA for amplification. Products are available that work to duplicate and increase the starting template DNA. We do not use such kits because they may add a nucleotide randomly in the process. Because we work with STRs, which are repeats of nucleotides, an insertion at an amplification site may alter a genotype and we are not willing to compromise our data.
Animal Waste has been used as a means of DNA collections for many years. It is one of the best methods to study animal populations in field studies as it allows for a low stress, non-invasive means of DNA collections. We have listed a few references below that use DNA retrieved from waste as key components for wildlife studies.
The Lab
WLNE-TV, Providence, RI
DNA tests at apartments result in poop fines
The New York Times
Using DNA to fight dog owners’ discourtesy in Brooklyn
Fox 5, San Diego, CA
City uses DNA to track dog owners who don’t pick up
Press Contact
Jason Manarchuck
- Growth Strategist / Founder
- High Profile Enterprises
- 15 Emory Place
- Knoxville, TN 37917
- Email: jason@highprofile.enterprises
- Direct / USA: +01-865-776-9159
Credits:
Christopher David Hill