During the past 10 years palaeomicrobiology, a new scientific discipline, has developed. The study of ancient pathogens by direct detection of their DNA has answered several historical questions and shown changes to pathogens over time. However, ancient DNA (aDNA) continues to be controversial and great care is needed to provide valid data. Here we review the most successful application of the technology, which is the study of tuberculosis. This has provided direct support for the current theory of Mycobacterium tuberculosis evolution, and suggests areas of investigation for the interaction of M tuberculosis with its host.
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Intra-individual variability in ancient plasmodium DNA recovery highlights need for enhanced sampling.
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Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
Malaria has been a leading cause of death in human populations for centuries and remains a major public health challenge in African countries, especially affecting children. Among the five Plasmodium species infecting humans, Plasmodium falciparum is the most lethal. Ancient DNA research has provided key insights into the origins, evolution, and virulence of pathogens that affect humans.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSubfamily evolution analysis using nuclear and chloroplast data from the same reads.
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Analytical Research Center for Experimental Sciences, Saga University, Saga, Japan.
The chloroplast (cp) genome is a widely used tool for exploring plant evolutionary relationships, yet its effectiveness in fully resolving these relationships remains uncertain. Integrating cp genome data with nuclear DNA information offers a more comprehensive view but often requires separate datasets. In response, we employed the same raw read sequencing data to construct cp genome-based trees and nuclear DNA phylogenetic trees using Read2Tree, a cost-efficient method for extracting conserved nuclear gene sequences from raw read data, focusing on the Aurantioideae subfamily, which includes Citrus and its relatives.
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Caves are primary sites for studying human and animal subsistence patterns and genetic ancestry throughout the Palaeolithic. Iberia served as a critical human and animal refugium in Europe during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), 26.5 to 19 thousand years before the present (cal kya).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIdentification of deposits from modern and ancient large tsunamis by means of environmental DNA.
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Faculty of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Tsukuba, 1-1-1 Tennodai, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-8572, Japan.
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Article Synopsis
- Balanced mating type polymorphisms provide insight into the evolution of sexual reproduction strategies in plants, particularly within the Juglandaceae family (like walnuts and hickories).
- Researchers have identified two distinct Mendelian inheritance mechanisms linked to ancient DNA polymorphisms that dictate whether flowers develop male or female first, showing a 1:1 genetic ratio.
- A dominant haplotype associated with female-first flowering is linked to a gene related to trehalose-6-phosphate metabolism, suggesting complex regulation of gene expression and hints at sex chromosome-like evolution in these plants.
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