‘Target enrichment by sequence capture’ is a nice technique to get plenty of DNA data, for a specific, predetermined part of the genome. You just extract DNA from a sample, cut it up, label it, and then pull out your genes of interest with complementary probes. Such a genome-reduction step is particularly helpful if you study species with large and complicated genomes, such as newts. In a paper out in Ecology and Evolution, my PhD student Manon de Visser pushes the limits of the Triturus sequence capture protocol, to see how broadly it could be applied within the family of newts and true salamanders, a.k.a. the Salamandridae. Conveniently, the protocol – which we refer to as NewtCap – works across the entire family. With NewtCap, standardized data, suitable to address a wide range of questions, can be collected for any newt or true salamander.

Reference: de Visser, M.C., France, J., McCartney-Melstad, E., Bucciarelli, G., Theodoropoulos, A., Shaffer, H.B., Wielstra, B. (2025). NewtCap: an efficient target capture approach to boost genomic studies in Salamandridae (true salamanders and newts). Ecology and Evolution 15(8): e71835.