The room conducts, or has conducted, molecular-genetic analysis of objects belonging to the following taxonomic groups of animals: annelids, mollusks, crustaceans, insects, fish, reptiles, birds, mammals (insectivores, rodents, carnivores, pinnipeds, artiodactyls, cetaceans), as well as analysis of certain systematic groups of plants and fungi.
The results obtained are used to address tasks in the following research areas: analysis of population structure and the genetic diversity of populations; phylogeography; the phylogeny of particular taxa; and individual genotyping followed by assessment of kinship within animal groups, estimation of population size, or characterization of individual movement patterns within a population (via recapture/re-encounter records).
Over many years of research, the room has accumulated data on the allelic composition of microsatellite loci in the populations of a number of mammal species (see, for example, "Individual genotypes of bowhead whales (Balaena mysticetus) of the Sea of Okhotsk – a database" — http://www.sevin.ru/news/676.html), which makes it possible to conduct expert assessments of the population or individual identity of samples from these species.
The room has established a collection of animal tissue samples for genetic analysis, comprising more than 4,200 storage units as of the end of 2017. Access to the collection's materials for further molecular-genetic analysis is provided to staff of the Institute and other organizations where joint projects exist.