New portable DNA toolkit targets global illegal wildlife trade
Bushmeat - generic image (Getty)
Scientists have developed a portable, rapid DNA test to identify illegal wildlife products on the spot.
The groundbreaking new tool promises to revolutionise the fight against the illegal wildlife trade - a global black market worth up to $23 billion a year.
The portable DNA testing system can identify species in under three hours, even from heavily processed animal products like dried meat or traditional medicines. Results of the study have now been published in PLoS ONE.
Dr Jon Wetton, from the University of Leicester’s Department of Genetics, Genomics and Cancer Sciences, who co-led the study, said: “The illegal wildlife trade is one of the world’s most lucrative criminal industries, threatening thousands of species with extinction and undermining global efforts to protect biodiversity. It also poses serious risks to human health, contributing to the spread of zoonotic diseases - those that jump from animals to humans. The COVID-19 pandemic showed how devastating those can be.”
Until now, identifying illegal wildlife products has been a slow, expensive, and lab-bound process. Many smuggled items - such as fillets, powders, or pills - are stripped of any visible features that might reveal their origin. Customs officers are often left guessing, and even when samples are seized, they must be sent to specialist labs for DNA testing, which can take days or weeks and cost hundreds of dollars per sample.
But the new toolkit, known as VeRIF-ID (short for Vertebrate Rapid In-Field Identification via DNA) developed by a team of Leicester geneticists using Oxford Nanopore’s MinION sequencer and a portable lab device called Bento Lab, fits in a suitcase and brings the power of DNA testing directly to the front lines of wildlife enforcement.
The VeRIF-ID toolkit
Weighing just 100 grams the MinION sequencer can be plugged into a standard laptop and sequence DNA in real time.
When paired with specially designed “universal” primers - short DNA sequences that work as ‘barcodes’ across the whole range of vertebrate species - VeRIF-ID can identify the source of a sample without needing to know what kind of species to expect.
“VeRIF-ID allows suspicious items to be tested on-site,” said PhD student Emily Patterson, first author of the study.
“As a test, I set up in the customs zone of Brussels airport and in one day tested 15 bushmeat items found in passenger baggage. I identified a range of species including an antelope linked to Ebola virus spillover into humans. The speed and portability will mean faster decisions, stronger evidence, and a better chance of catching traffickers in the act.”
This innovation could be a game-changer for wildlife conservation, food safety, and law enforcement. It also supports global targets like the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
As the illegal wildlife trade continues to evolve, tools like VeRIF-ID offer a powerful new way to fight back, bringing science out of the lab and into the field where it’s needed most.