September
20, 2017
DNA
molecules in lake sediment are few and hard bound to particles. This resulted
in challenging analyses and required development of new methods, both for
extracting sufficiently clean DNA and for the statistical analysis of data. For
this work, doctoral student Fredrik Olajos and researcher Folmer Bokma's
efforts were of particular importance.
"It's
fantastic news that DNA can be stored for so long in lake sediment.
Normally, free DNA molecules break down within days, but certain DNA fragments
are preserved because they bind to clay particles," says Professor Göran
Englund, one of the researchers behind the study.
"Being
able to map the prevalence of DNA in lake sediments is now opening up
a new window into history, which lets us see how nature has developed over a
long period of time," says Göran Englund. We have already started a
project aiming to study how lake ecosystems are affected by historical climate
changes. That can provide important clues to a better understanding of how the
current global warming will affect ecosystems."
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