DNA-Lab

Molecular data in the form of DNA sequences or DNA fragments are used to address a wide range of questions in biodiversity research, including systematics, kinship, phylogeny and evolution. Key questions can include: What does the evolutionary history of a species and its closest relatives look like? Which species belong to the group, and how are they related to each other? How many of these species occur in Norway?

Answers to such questions also provide valuable insights into the organisms' biology, ecology, and conservation status. Genetic data can furthermore be used to investigate gene flow between populations, reconstruct historical changes in population sizes, and estimate when different species originated. Such analyses may also indicate whether speciation and other evolutionary processes have been influenced by major environmental and climatic changes throughout Earth's history.

In addition to DNA, protein-coding RNA is used to study the functional diversity of microorganisms inhabiting deep-sea hydrothermal vents.

The biological material used in this research is not limited to recent collections from fieldwork and research cruises. Older material from the museum's collections is also increasingly used in molecular analyses, often with very good results.