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Environmental paleomicrobiology: using DNA preserved in aquatic sediments to its full potential

Citation

Capo, E and Monchamp, M-E and Coolen, MJL and Domaizon, I and Armbrecht, L and Bertilsson, S, Environmental paleomicrobiology: using DNA preserved in aquatic sediments to its full potential, Environmental Microbiology, 24, (5) pp. 2201-2209. ISSN 1462-2912 (2022) [Refereed Article]


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Copyright Statement

© 2022 The Authors. Environmental Microbiology published by Society for Applied Microbiology and John Wiley & Sons Ltd. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.

DOI: doi:10.1111/1462-2920.15913

Abstract

In-depth knowledge about spatial and temporal variation in microbial diversity and function is needed for a better understanding of ecological and evolutionary responses to global change. In particular, the study of microbial ancient DNA preserved in sediment archives from lakes and oceans can help us to evaluate the responses of aquatic microbes in the past and make predictions about future biodiversity change in those ecosystems. Recent advances in molecular genetic methods applied to the analysis of historically deposited DNA in sediments have not only allowed the taxonomic identification of past aquatic microbial communities, but also enabled tracing their evolution and adaptation to episodic disturbances and gradual environmental change. Nevertheless, some challenges remain for scientists to take full advantage of the rapidly developing field of paleo-genetics, including the limited ability to detect rare taxa and reconstruct complete genomes for evolutionary studies. Here, we provide a brief review of some of the recent advances in the field of environmental paleomicrobiology and discuss remaining challenges related to the application of molecular genetic methods to study microbial diversity, ecology, and evolution in sediment archives. We anticipate that, in the near future, environmental paleomicrobiology will shed new light on the processes of microbial genome evolution and microbial ecosystem responses to Quaternary environmental changes at an unprecedented level of detail. This information can, for example, aid geological reconstructions of biogeochemical cycles and predict ecosystem responses to environmental perturbations, including in the context of human-induced global changes.

Item Details

Item Type:Refereed Article
Keywords:sediemntary ancient DNA, microbial ecology and evolution, quarternary
Research Division:Biological Sciences
Research Group:Evolutionary biology
Research Field:Evolutionary ecology
Objective Division:Environmental Management
Objective Group:Marine systems and management
Objective Field:Marine biodiversity
UTAS Author:Armbrecht, L (Dr Linda Armbrecht)
ID Code:148648
Year Published:2022
Funding Support:Australian Research Council (DE210100929)
Web of Science® Times Cited:1
Deposited By:Ecology and Biodiversity
Deposited On:2022-01-31
Last Modified:2022-06-23
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