Testing Nessie’s DNA

Professor Neil Gemmell, from New Zealand, thinks it could solve the mystery
Researcher Roland Watson said no one has tried searching for DNA before
Nessie hunter Steve Feltham vowed to never give up searching for the monster

A scientist is to DNA test the waters of Loch Ness in another bid to determine once and for all if Nessie exists.

Professor Neil Gemmell will look for traces of unusual DNA by gathering water samples from the Scottish loch before analysing them using police forensic techniques.

Professor Gemmell, of New Zealand’s University of Otago, thinks this could solve the monster mystery.

He said: ‘We use environmental DNA to monitor marine biodiversity. From a few litres of water we can detect thousands of species.

‘All large organisms lose cells as they move through their environment. New genomic technology is sensitive enough to pick this up and we can use comparisons to databases that span the majority of known living things.

‘If there was anything unusual in the loch these DNA tools would be likely to pick up that evidence.’

Nessie researcher Roland Watson, 54, said he was not aware of anyone doing a DNA test before.