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

C. L. Freeman, L. Dieudonné, O. B. A. Agbaje, M. Žure, J. Q. Sanz, M. Collins, K. K. Sand*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

11 Citations (Scopus)
7 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

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.

Original languageEnglish
JournalEnvironmental DNA
Volume5
Issue number6
Pages (from-to)1691-1705
Number of pages15
ISSN2637-4943
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2023

Bibliographical note

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

Keywords

  • atomic force microscopy
  • calcite
  • DNA preservation
  • eDNA
  • interfacial geochemistry
  • MD simulations

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