TY - JOUR

T1 - Survival of environmental DNA in sediments

T2 - Mineralogic control on DNA taphonomy

AU - Freeman, C. L.

AU - Dieudonné, L.

AU - Agbaje, O. B. A.

AU - Žure, M.

AU - Sanz, J. Q.

AU - Collins, M.

AU - Sand, K. K.

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2023 The Authors. Environmental DNA published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

PY - 2023

Y1 - 2023

N2 - The extraction of environmental DNA (eDNA) from sediments is providing ground-breaking views of past ecosystems and biodiversity. Despite this rich source of information, it is still unclear which sediments favor preservation and why. Here, we used atomic force microscopy and molecular dynamics simulations to explore the DNA-mineral interaction to assess how mineralogy and interfacial geochemistry play a role in the preservation of environmental DNA on mineral substrates. We demonstrate that mineral composition, surface topography, and surface charge influence DNA adsorption behavior as well as preservation. Modeling and experimental data show that DNA damage can be induced by mineral binding if there is a strong driving force for adsorption. The study shows that knowledge of the mineralogical composition of a sediment and the environmental conditions can be useful for assessing if a deposit is capable of storing extracellular DNA and to what extent the DNA would be preserved. Our data adds to the understanding of eDNA taphonomy and highlights that, for some mineral systems, fragmented DNA may not represent old DNA.

AB - The extraction of environmental DNA (eDNA) from sediments is providing ground-breaking views of past ecosystems and biodiversity. Despite this rich source of information, it is still unclear which sediments favor preservation and why. Here, we used atomic force microscopy and molecular dynamics simulations to explore the DNA-mineral interaction to assess how mineralogy and interfacial geochemistry play a role in the preservation of environmental DNA on mineral substrates. We demonstrate that mineral composition, surface topography, and surface charge influence DNA adsorption behavior as well as preservation. Modeling and experimental data show that DNA damage can be induced by mineral binding if there is a strong driving force for adsorption. The study shows that knowledge of the mineralogical composition of a sediment and the environmental conditions can be useful for assessing if a deposit is capable of storing extracellular DNA and to what extent the DNA would be preserved. Our data adds to the understanding of eDNA taphonomy and highlights that, for some mineral systems, fragmented DNA may not represent old DNA.

KW - atomic force microscopy

KW - calcite

KW - DNA preservation

KW - eDNA

KW - interfacial geochemistry

KW - MD simulations

U2 - 10.1002/edn3.482

DO - 10.1002/edn3.482

M3 - Journal article

AN - SCOPUS:85177435747

VL - 5

SP - 1691

EP - 1705

JO - Environmental DNA

JF - Environmental DNA

SN - 2637-4943

IS - 6

ER -