eprintid: 10113678 rev_number: 26 eprint_status: archive userid: 608 dir: disk0/10/11/36/78 datestamp: 2020-11-03 16:57:00 lastmod: 2021-11-15 01:44:09 status_changed: 2020-11-03 16:57:00 type: article metadata_visibility: show creators_name: Bensch, S creators_name: Inumaru, M creators_name: Sato, Y creators_name: Lee Cruz, L creators_name: Cunningham, AA creators_name: Goodman, SJ creators_name: Levin, II creators_name: Parker, PG creators_name: Casanueva, P creators_name: Hernández, M creators_name: Moreno‐Rueda, G creators_name: Rojo, M title: Contaminations contaminate common databases ispublished: inpress divisions: UCL divisions: B02 divisions: C08 divisions: D09 divisions: F99 keywords: Haemoproteus, haemosporidian parasites, PCR contamination, plasmodium, sequence databases note: This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ 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. date: 2020-10-31 date_type: published publisher: Wiley official_url: https://doi.org/10.1111/1755-0998.13272 oa_status: green full_text_type: pub language: eng primo: open primo_central: open_green verified: verified_manual elements_id: 1825397 doi: 10.1111/1755-0998.13272 lyricists_name: Cunningham, Andrew lyricists_id: AACUN07 actors_name: Austen, Jennifer actors_id: JAUST66 actors_role: owner full_text_status: public publication: Molecular Ecology Resources citation: Bensch, S; Inumaru, M; Sato, Y; Lee Cruz, L; Cunningham, AA; Goodman, SJ; Levin, II; ... Rojo, M; + view all <#> Bensch, S; Inumaru, M; Sato, Y; Lee Cruz, L; Cunningham, AA; Goodman, SJ; Levin, II; Parker, PG; Casanueva, P; Hernández, M; Moreno‐Rueda, G; Rojo, M; - view fewer <#> (2020) Contaminations contaminate common databases. Molecular Ecology Resources 10.1111/1755-0998.13272 <https://doi.org/10.1111/1755-0998.13272>. (In press). Green open access document_url: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10113678/7/1755-0998.13272.pdf