Survival of environmental DNA in sediments: Mineralogic control on DNA taphonomy

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 simu...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Environmental DNA (Hoboken, N.J.) N.J.), 2023-11, Vol.5 (6), p.1691-1705
Main Authors: Freeman, C. L., Dieudonné, L., Agbaje, O. B. A., Žure, M., Sanz, J. Q., Collins, M., Sand, K. K.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adsorption
Atomic force microscopy
Biodiversity
calcite
Composition
DNA damage
DNA preservation
eDNA
Environmental conditions
Environmental DNA
Geochemistry
interfacial geochemistry
MD simulations
Microscopy
Mineral composition
Mineralogy
Minerals
Molecular dynamics
Preservation
Sediments
Solution chemistry
Substrates
Surface charge
Surface chemistry
Taphonomy
Topography
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary: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. We address bond level DNA–mineral affinities for two types of common sedimentary minerals and show that mineralogy and surface structures play a large role for fat of DNA in the environment.
ISSN:2637-4943
2637-4943
DOI:10.1002/edn3.482