Development and validation of a species-specific environmental DNA (eDNA) assay for American mink (Neovison vison)

The development of a dPCR assay for American mink (Neovison vison). 1. qPCR validation a. The successful contractor will evaluate four existing assays for American mink that target either the COI gene (Pugh 2022), cyt-b gene (Di Girolamo 2022) or ND2 gene (Takaba and others 2024) using the validation scale for single species eDNA assays (Thalinger and others 2021). b. Areas for assay improvement should be identified, and further in silico and in vitro testing conducted using qPCR to ensure at least one assay reache...