In the previous post we started following a pinch of soil, which was brought to a lab. The goal was to find how many fungi live in this
pinch. In a lab, where Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) is adopted, sample contamination
with alien fungal DNA is prevented. Also, several controls are applied to ban
false signals. The results obtained in such GLP-lab would be unpretentious, but
truthful (pic.1 a). However, if the same soil sample ends up in the Departmentof Forest Mycology and Plant Pathology, SLU it is ordained for a higher purpose!
In the previous post we observed the process of cooking a meaty body out of a
tiny soil sample. The aim was artificially generate as many fungal-like signals
as possible. The raw materials obtained
in our Department by control-free practice look copious (pic.1, b).
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| Pic.1 a b |
The next task is adding fashionable trends! Results must look
not only huge, but also super modish. How this challenge is solved at our
Department? By outsourcing!
Polymerase chain reaction (PCR), which helps to create
the meaty raw results, was invented many decades ago. Now it becomes a routine
analysis even in the most modest labs. PCR is technologically primitive: researcher just
has to mix together several (from 3 to 7) liquids. That is all. It is as easy as
installing screw-nuts (pic. 2).
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| Pic. 2 Only the most technologically simple procedure is done at the Department |
Results produced by such simple method would
be rejected with disgust by the upper crust peer-review journals. To prevent such negative reaction, the simplicity of technology ought to be masked. So, raw PCR materials are packed into envelopes and sent to an external company for so called Next
Generation Sequencing (pic3).
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| Pic. 3 Raw results are sent to external companies for modernization |
Of course, next generation sequencing (more correctly,
massive parallel sequencing) was not invented to mask forgeries, but nevertheless,
has been effectively adopted for this job. The technology is modish and that is
why – extremely expensive! If conventional analysis costs around 100$, theNext Generation Sequencing costs 10000$. Only rich labs can afford it. On this
stage all rivals from the modest labs are eliminated from the competition.
Despite the fact that contestants did the same analysis, they failed to pack it into
luxurious wrapper.
When results come back after the Next Generation
Sequencing treatment they look huge and impressive(pic. 4)!
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| Pic. 4 When results arrive after modernization they look huge and imperssive |
But what is more important – now results look
very modern and extremely complicated (pic. 5). These monstrous results need
special software to be handled and many hours of office-work. The maintenance of this tortuous construction
demand special people. These exceptional people talk on a cleverly jargon. The
whole process became so exclusive, so high-tech looking, so trendy! Who can possibly identify that this monstrous
construction grew out of the tiny soil pinch with just four fungi living in it?
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| Pic. 5 Next Generation Sequencing converts PCR-porridge into high-tech construction |
