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Fracasso I, Zaccone C, Oskolkov N, Da Ros L, Dinella A, Belelli Marchesini L, Buzzini P, Sannino C, Turchetti B, Cesco S, Le Roux G, Tonon G, Vernesi C, Mimmo T, Ventura M, Borruso L. Exploring different methodological approaches to unlock paleobiodiversity in peat profiles using ancient DNA. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2024; 908:168159. [PMID: 37923262 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.168159] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/12/2023] [Revised: 09/28/2023] [Accepted: 10/25/2023] [Indexed: 11/07/2023]
Abstract
Natural and human-induced environmental changes deeply affected terrestrial ecosystems throughout the Holocene. Paleoenvironmental reconstructions provide information about the past and allow us to predict/model future scenarios. Among potential records, peat bogs are widely used because they present a precise stratigraphy and act as natural archives of highly diverse organic remains. Over the decades, several techniques have been developed to identify debris occurring in peat, including their morphological description. However, this is strongly constrained by the researcher's ability to distinguish residues at the species level, which typically requires many years of experience. In addition, potential contamination hampers using these techniques to obtain information from organisms such as fungi or bacteria. Environmental DNA metabarcoding and shotgun metagenome sequencing could represent a solution to detect specific groups of organisms without any a priori knowledge of their characteristics and/or to identify organisms that have rarely been considered in previous investigations. Moreover, shotgun metagenomics may allow the identification of bacteria and fungi (including both yeast and filamentous life forms), ensuring discrimination between ancient and modern organisms through the study of deamination/damage patterns. In the present review, we aim to i) present the state-of-the-art methodologies in paleoecological and paleoclimatic studies focusing on peat core analyses, proposing alternative approaches to the classical morphological identification of plant residues, and ii) suggest biomolecular approaches that will allow the use of proxies such as invertebrates, fungi, and bacteria, which are rarely employed in paleoenvironmental reconstructions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ilaria Fracasso
- Faculty of Agricultural, Environmental and Food Sciences, Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, 39100 Bolzano, Italy.
| | - Claudio Zaccone
- Department of Biotechnology, University of Verona, 37134 Verona, Italy
| | - Nikolay Oskolkov
- Department of Biology, National Bioinformatics Infrastructure Sweden, Science for Life Laboratory, Lund University, 221 00 Lund, Sweden
| | - Luca Da Ros
- Faculty of Agricultural, Environmental and Food Sciences, Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, 39100 Bolzano, Italy
| | - Anna Dinella
- Faculty of Agricultural, Environmental and Food Sciences, Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, 39100 Bolzano, Italy
| | - Luca Belelli Marchesini
- Forest Ecology Unit, Research and Innovation Centre, Fondazione Edmund Mach, 38098 San Michele all'Adige, Italy
| | - Pietro Buzzini
- Department of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Science, University of Perugia, 06123 Perugia, Italy
| | - Ciro Sannino
- Department of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Science, University of Perugia, 06123 Perugia, Italy
| | - Benedetta Turchetti
- Department of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Science, University of Perugia, 06123 Perugia, Italy
| | - Stefano Cesco
- Faculty of Agricultural, Environmental and Food Sciences, Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, 39100 Bolzano, Italy
| | - Gael Le Roux
- Laboratoire Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Environnement (UMR5245 CNRS/UPS/INPT), Université de Toulouse, 31326 Castanet-Tolosan, France
| | - Giustino Tonon
- Faculty of Agricultural, Environmental and Food Sciences, Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, 39100 Bolzano, Italy
| | - Cristiano Vernesi
- Forest Ecology Unit, Research and Innovation Centre, Fondazione Edmund Mach, 38098 San Michele all'Adige, Italy
| | - Tanja Mimmo
- Faculty of Agricultural, Environmental and Food Sciences, Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, 39100 Bolzano, Italy
| | - Maurizio Ventura
- Faculty of Agricultural, Environmental and Food Sciences, Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, 39100 Bolzano, Italy
| | - Luigimaria Borruso
- Faculty of Agricultural, Environmental and Food Sciences, Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, 39100 Bolzano, Italy.
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Warinner C. An Archaeology of Microbes. JOURNAL OF ANTHROPOLOGICAL RESEARCH 2022. [DOI: 10.1086/721976] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Christina Warinner
- Department of Anthropology, Harvard University, Cambridge MA, USA 02138, and Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany 04103
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Borry M, Hübner A, Rohrlach AB, Warinner C. PyDamage: automated ancient damage identification and estimation for contigs in ancient DNA de novo assembly. PeerJ 2021; 9:e11845. [PMID: 34395085 PMCID: PMC8323603 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.11845] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/29/2021] [Accepted: 07/01/2021] [Indexed: 01/19/2023] Open
Abstract
DNA de novo assembly can be used to reconstruct longer stretches of DNA (contigs), including genes and even genomes, from short DNA sequencing reads. Applying this technique to metagenomic data derived from archaeological remains, such as paleofeces and dental calculus, we can investigate past microbiome functional diversity that may be absent or underrepresented in the modern microbiome gene catalogue. However, compared to modern samples, ancient samples are often burdened with environmental contamination, resulting in metagenomic datasets that represent mixtures of ancient and modern DNA. The ability to rapidly and reliably establish the authenticity and integrity of ancient samples is essential for ancient DNA studies, and the ability to distinguish between ancient and modern sequences is particularly important for ancient microbiome studies. Characteristic patterns of ancient DNA damage, namely DNA fragmentation and cytosine deamination (observed as C-to-T transitions) are typically used to authenticate ancient samples and sequences, but existing tools for inspecting and filtering aDNA damage either compute it at the read level, which leads to high data loss and lower quality when used in combination with de novo assembly, or require manual inspection, which is impractical for ancient assemblies that typically contain tens to hundreds of thousands of contigs. To address these challenges, we designed PyDamage, a robust, automated approach for aDNA damage estimation and authentication of de novo assembled aDNA. PyDamage uses a likelihood ratio based approach to discriminate between truly ancient contigs and contigs originating from modern contamination. We test PyDamage on both on simulated aDNA data and archaeological paleofeces, and we demonstrate its ability to reliably and automatically identify contigs bearing DNA damage characteristic of aDNA. Coupled with aDNA de novo assembly, Pydamage opens up new doors to explore functional diversity in ancient metagenomic datasets.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maxime Borry
- Microbiome Sciences Group, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Department of Archaeogenetics, Jena, Germany
| | - Alexander Hübner
- Microbiome Sciences Group, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Department of Archaeogenetics, Jena, Germany.,Faculty of Biological Sciences, Friedrich-Schiller Universität Jena, Jena, Germany
| | - Adam B Rohrlach
- Population Genetics Group, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Department of Archaeogenetics, Jena, Germany.,ARC Centre of Excellence for Mathematical and Statistical Frontiers, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia
| | - Christina Warinner
- Microbiome Sciences Group, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Department of Archaeogenetics, Jena, Germany.,Faculty of Biological Sciences, Friedrich-Schiller Universität Jena, Jena, Germany.,Department of Anthropology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, United States of America
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Smith AD, Kamiński MJ, Kanda K, Sweet AD, Betancourt JL, Holmgren CA, Hempel E, Alberti F, Hofreiter M. Recovery and analysis of ancient beetle DNA from subfossil packrat middens using high-throughput sequencing. Sci Rep 2021; 11:12635. [PMID: 34135378 PMCID: PMC8209150 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-91896-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/30/2021] [Accepted: 05/26/2021] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
The study of ancient DNA is revolutionizing our understanding of paleo-ecology and the evolutionary history of species. Insects are essential components in many ecosystems and constitute the most diverse group of animals. Yet they are largely neglected in ancient DNA studies. We report the results of the first targeted investigation of insect ancient DNA to positively identify subfossil insects to species, which includes the recovery of endogenous content from samples as old as ~ 34,355 ybp. Potential inhibitors currently limiting widespread research on insect ancient DNA are discussed, including the lack of closely related genomic reference sequences (decreased mapping efficiency) and the need for more extensive collaborations with insect taxonomists. The advantages of insect-based studies are also highlighted, especially in the context of understanding past climate change. In this regard, insect remains from ancient packrat middens are a rich and largely uninvestigated resource for exploring paleo-ecology and species dynamics over time.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aaron D Smith
- Department of Entomology, Purdue University, 901 W. State Street, West Lafayette, IN, 47907, USA.
| | - Marcin J Kamiński
- Department of Entomology, Purdue University, 901 W. State Street, West Lafayette, IN, 47907, USA
- Zoological Museum, Museum and Institute of Zoology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Wilcza 64, 00-679, Warszawa, Poland
| | - Kojun Kanda
- USDA Systematic Entomology Laboratory, C/O Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History, Washington, DC, USA
| | - Andrew D Sweet
- Department of Entomology, Purdue University, 901 W. State Street, West Lafayette, IN, 47907, USA
- Department of Biological Sciences, Arkansas State University, State University, AR, 72467, USA
| | | | - Camille A Holmgren
- Department of Geography and Planning, SUNY Buffalo State College, Buffalo, NY, USA
| | - Elisabeth Hempel
- Institute for Biochemistry and Biology, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany
- Museum Für Naturkunde, Berlin, Leibniz Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity Science, Berlin, Germany
| | - Federica Alberti
- Institute for Biochemistry and Biology, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany
- Reiss-Engelhorn-Museen, Mannheim, Germany
| | - Michael Hofreiter
- Institute for Biochemistry and Biology, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany
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Environmental palaeogenomic reconstruction of an Ice Age algal population. Commun Biol 2021; 4:220. [PMID: 33594237 PMCID: PMC7887274 DOI: 10.1038/s42003-021-01710-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/27/2020] [Accepted: 01/06/2021] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Palaeogenomics has greatly increased our knowledge of past evolutionary and ecological change, but has been restricted to the study of species that preserve either as or within fossils. Here we show the potential of shotgun metagenomics to reveal population genomic information for a taxon that does not preserve in the body fossil record, the algae Nannochloropsis. We shotgun sequenced two lake sediment samples dated to the Last Glacial Maximum and reconstructed full chloroplast and mitochondrial genomes to explore within-lake population genomic variation. This revealed two major haplogroups for each organellar genome, which could be assigned to known varieties of N. limnetica, although we show that at least three haplotypes were present using our minimum haplotype diversity estimation method. These approaches demonstrate the utility of lake sedimentary ancient DNA (sedaDNA) for population genomic analysis, thereby opening the door to environmental palaeogenomics, which will unlock the full potential of sedaDNA. Lammers et al. use sedimentary ancient DNA to reconstruct palaeogenomes of Nannochloropsis. This study demonstrates the value of sedaDNA for palaeogenomic reconstructions and population genomic analysis.
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Abstract
The domestication of animals led to a major shift in human subsistence patterns, from a hunter-gatherer to a sedentary agricultural lifestyle, which ultimately resulted in the development of complex societies. Over the past 15,000 years, the phenotype and genotype of multiple animal species, such as dogs, pigs, sheep, goats, cattle and horses, have been substantially altered during their adaptation to the human niche. Recent methodological innovations, such as improved ancient DNA extraction methods and next-generation sequencing, have enabled the sequencing of whole ancient genomes. These genomes have helped reconstruct the process by which animals entered into domestic relationships with humans and were subjected to novel selection pressures. Here, we discuss and update key concepts in animal domestication in light of recent contributions from ancient genomics.
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The Draft Whole-Genome Sequence of the Antibiotic Producer Empedobacter haloabium ATCC 31962 Provides Indications for Its Taxonomic Reclassification. Microbiol Resour Announc 2019; 8:8/45/e01120-19. [PMID: 31699766 PMCID: PMC6838624 DOI: 10.1128/mra.01120-19] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Strain ATCC 31962 was formerly taxonomically classified as Empedobacter haloabium and reported to be the producer of the lipopeptide antibiotic empedopeptin. Here, we report the draft genome sequence of ATCC 31962, which encodes regions that suggest a distinct biosynthetic capacity and suggests its taxonomic reclassification.
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Billerman SM, Walsh J. Historical DNA as a tool to address key questions in avian biology and evolution: A review of methods, challenges, applications, and future directions. Mol Ecol Resour 2019; 19:1115-1130. [PMID: 31336408 DOI: 10.1111/1755-0998.13066] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/10/2019] [Revised: 07/08/2019] [Accepted: 07/10/2019] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
Museum specimens play a crucial role in addressing key questions in systematics, evolution, ecology, and conservation. With the advent of high-throughput sequencing technologies, specimens that have long been the foundation of important biological discoveries can inform new perspectives as sources of genomic data. Despite the many possibilities associated with analyzing DNA from historical specimens, several challenges persist. Using avian systems as a model, we review DNA extraction protocols, sequencing technologies, and capture methods that are helping researchers overcome some of these difficulties. We highlight empirical examples in which researchers have used these technologies to address fundamental questions related to avian conservation and evolution. Increasing accessibility to new sequencing technologies will provide researchers with tools to tap into the wealth of information contained within our valuable natural history collections.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shawn M Billerman
- Fuller Evolutionary Biology Program, Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA.,Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA
| | - Jennifer Walsh
- Fuller Evolutionary Biology Program, Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA.,Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA
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Seitz A, Hanssen F, Nieselt K. DACCOR–Detection, characterization, and reconstruction of repetitive regions in bacterial genomes. PeerJ 2018; 6:e4742. [PMID: 29868249 PMCID: PMC5983011 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.4742] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/22/2017] [Accepted: 04/20/2018] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
The reconstruction of genomes using mapping-based approaches with short reads experiences difficulties when resolving repetitive regions. These repetitive regions in genomes result in low mapping qualities of the respective reads, which in turn lead to many unresolved bases. Currently, the reconstruction of these regions is often based on modified references in which the repetitive regions are masked. However, for many references, such masked genomes are not available or are based on repetitive regions of other genomes. Our idea is to identify repetitive regions in the reference genome de novo. These regions can then be used to reconstruct them separately using short read sequencing data. Afterward, the reconstructed repetitive sequence can be inserted into the reconstructed genome. We present the program detection, characterization, and reconstruction of repetitive regions, which performs these steps automatically. Our results show an increased base pair resolution of the repetitive regions in the reconstruction of Treponema pallidum samples, resulting in fewer unresolved bases.
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Abstract
This paper presents the first draft genome of the tule elk (
Cervus elaphus nannodes), a subspecies native to California that underwent an extreme genetic bottleneck in the late 1800s. The genome was generated from Illumina HiSeq 3000 whole genome sequencing of four individuals, resulting in the assembly of 2.395 billion base pairs (Gbp) over 602,862 contigs over 500 bp and N50 = 6,885 bp. This genome provides a resource to facilitate future genomic research on elk and other cervids.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jessica E Mizzi
- Microbiology Graduate Group, University of California, Davis, CA, 95616, USA
| | | | - C Titus Brown
- Department of Population Health and Reproduction, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California, Davis, CA, 95616, USA
| | - Benjamin N Sacks
- Department of Population Health and Reproduction and Mammalian Ecology and Conservation Unit, Veterinary Genetics Laboratory, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California, Davis, CA, 95616, USA
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