WA researchers have developed a technique that uses eggshells from endangered and extinct birds as a molecular resource—revealing insights into the behaviour and evolutionary history of Australian feathered fauna.
Eggshell has been largely overlooked as a substrate despite its impermeability and resistance to decay, owing largely to the calcium carbonate matrix which acts to protect biomolecules. Researchers take the eggs of extinct and endangered birds and grind them down before sequencing the DNA to learn new information about birds.
Dr James Haile, Murdoch University