Ancient and modern environmental DNA

Mikkel Winther Pedersen, Søren Overballe-Petersen, Luca Ermini, Clio Der Sarkissian, James Seymour Haile, Ann Micaela Hellström, Johan Spens, Philip Francis Thomsen, Kristine Bohmann, Enrico Cappellini, Ida Bærholm Schnell, Nathan Wales, Christian Carøe, Paula Campos, Astrid Mariah Zelma Schmidt, M. Thomas P. Gilbert, Anders Johannes Hansen, Ludovic Antoine Alexandre Orlando, Eske Willerslev

    148 Citationer (Scopus)

    Abstract

    DNA obtained from environmental samples such as sediments, ice or water (environmental DNA, eDNA), represents an important source of information on past and present biodiversity. It has revealed an ancient forest in Greenland, extended by several thousand years the survival dates for mainland woolly mammoth in Alaska, and pushed back the dates for spruce survival in Scandinavian ice-free refugia during the last glaciation. More recently, eDNA was used to uncover the past 50 000 years of vegetation history in the Arctic, revealing massive vegetation turnover at the Pleistocene/Holocene transition, with implications for the extinction of megafauna. Furthermore, eDNA can reflect the biodiversity of extant flora and fauna, both qualitatively and quantitatively, allowing detection of rare species. As such, trace studies of plant and vertebrate DNA in the environment have revolutionized our knowledge of biogeography. However, the approach remains marred by biases related to DNA behaviour in environmental settings, incomplete reference databases and false positive results due to contamination. We provide a review of the field.

    OriginalsprogEngelsk
    Artikelnummer20130383
    TidsskriftPhilosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
    Vol/bind370
    Udgave nummer1660
    Antal sider11
    ISSN0962-8436
    DOI
    StatusUdgivet - 19 jan. 2015

    Fingeraftryk

    Dyk ned i forskningsemnerne om 'Ancient and modern environmental DNA'. Sammen danner de et unikt fingeraftryk.

    Citationsformater