AN EFFICIENT DNA EXTRACTION METHOD FOR SMALL METAZOANS

The isolation of total nucleic acids from small metazoan taxa is diffi cult and often leads to an unacceptably large percentage of unsuccessf ul polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplifications. Our work with the e volutionary genetics of harpacticoid copepods was an incentive to refi ne techniques such that consistent amplifications from minute marine o rganisms were feasible. We describe these modifications and demonstrat e their utility for the amplification of multiple loci from single har pacticoid copepods.