ArticleMolecular ecology resources2021
Contaminations contaminate common databases.
Article in Molecular ecology resources, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 papers.
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Who cites it
17 citing papers in PubMed.
- Review of Genetic Information of Morphologically Described Haemoproteus Parasites Recorded in GenBank and MalAvi Databases.Integrative zoology · 2026Review
- User Guided Selection and Alignment of Sequence Data by GeneMatrix.Journal of molecular evolution · 2026Article
- Back from the dead: validity and taxonomic position ofParasitology · 2025Article
- Location and timing of infection drives a sex-bias inParasitology · 2024Article
- Considerations for first field trials of low-threshold gene drive for malaria vector control.Malaria journal · 2024Review
- Exo-erythrocytic development of two Haemoproteus species (Haemosporida, Haemoproteidae), with description of Haemoproteus dumbbellus, a new blood parasite of bunting birds (Emberizidae).International journal for parasitology · 2023Article
- Prevalence of Borrelia burgdorferi and diversity of its outer surface protein C (ospC) alleles in blacklegged ticks (Ixodes scapularis) in Delaware.Ticks and tick-borne diseases · 2023Article
- Host shift and natural long-distance dispersal to an oceanic island of a host-specific parasite.Biology letters · 2023Article
- Parasite detection and quantification in avian blood is dependent on storage medium and duration.Ecology and evolution · 2023Article
- Dnabarcoder: An open-source software package for analysing and predicting DNA sequence similarity cutoffs for fungal sequence identification.Molecular ecology resources · 2022Article
- A widespread survey of avian haemosporidia in deceased wild birds of Japan: the hidden value of personally collected samples.The Journal of veterinary medical science · 2022Article
- Apparent absence of avian malaria and malaria-like parasites in northern blue-footed boobies breeding on Isla Isabel.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- Another plea for 'best practice' in molecular approaches to trematode systematics:Parasitology · 2022Article
- Avian haemosporidian parasites of accipitriform raptors.Malaria journal · 2022Article
- A highly invasive malaria parasite has expanded its range to non-migratory birds in North America.Biology letters · 2021Article
- Experimental study of newly described avian malaria parasite Plasmodium (Novyella) collidatum n. sp., genetic lineage pFANTAIL01 obtained from South Asian migrant bird.Malaria journal · 2021Article
- Contaminations contaminate common databases.Molecular ecology resources · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
12 authors.
Funding
Abstract
The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is a very powerful method to detect and identify pathogens. The high sensitivity of the method, however, comes with a cost; any of the millions of artificial DNA copies generated by PCR can serve as a template in a following experiment. If not identified as contaminations, these may result in erroneous conclusions on the occurrence of the pathogen, thereby inflating estimates of host range and geographic distribution. In the present paper, we evaluate whether several published records of avian haemosporidian parasites, in either unusual host species or geographical regions, might stem from PCR contaminations rather than novel biological findings. The detailed descriptions of these cases are shedding light upon the steps in the work process that might lead to PCR contaminations. By increasing the awareness of this problem, it will aid in developing procedures that keep these to a minimum. The examples in the present paper are from haemosporidians of birds, however the problem of contaminations and suggested actions should apply generally to all kinds of PCR-based identifications, not just of parasites and pathogens.
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