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AOBPreview originally published online on September 20, 2006
Annals of Botany 2006 98(5):1107-1111; doi:10.1093/aob/mcl188
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© The Author 2006. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Annals of Botany Company. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oupjournals.org

TECHNICAL ARTICLE

Authenticated DNA from Ancient Wood Remains

SASCHA LIEPELT1,*, CHRISTOPH SPERISEN2, MARIE-FRANCE DEGUILLOUX3, REMY J. PETIT4, ROY KISSLING5, MATTHEW SPENCER6, JACQUES-LOUIS DE BEAULIEU7, PIERRE TABERLET8, LUDOVIC GIELLY8 and BIRGIT ZIEGENHAGEN1

1 Philipps-University Marburg, Faculty of Biology Nature Conservation Division, Karl-von-Frisch-Str. 2, D-35032 Marburg, Germany
2 Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Zürcherstrasse 111, CH-8903 Birmensdorf, Switzerland
3 Laboratoire d'Anthropologie des Populations du Passé, UMR PACEA Avenue des Facultés, 33405 Talence cedex, France
4 Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique, UMR Biodiversité Gènes et Ecosystèmes, 69 route d'Arcachon, 33612 Cestas Cedex, France
5 Cytos Biotechnology AG, Wagistrasse 25 CH-8952 Schlieren, Switzerland
6 School of Biological Sciences, University of Liverpool Liverpool L69 7ZB, UK
7 IMEP-UMR CNRS 6116, Université Paul Cezanne Europôle de l'Arbois, B.P. 80, 13545, Aix-en-Provence, France
8 Laboratoire d'Ecologie Alpine (LECA), CNRS UMR 5553, Université Joseph Fourier 38041 Grenoble Cedex 9, France

* For correspondence. E-mail liepelt{at}staff.uni-marburg.de

Received: 17 May 2006    Returned for revision: 5 July 2006    Accepted: 21 July 2006    Published electronically: 20 September 2006

• Background The reconstruction of biological processes and human activities during the last glacial cycle relies mainly on data from biological remains. Highly abundant tissues, such as wood, are candidates for a genetic analysis of past populations. While well-authenticated DNA has now been recovered from various fossil remains, the final ‘proof’ is still missing for wood, despite some promising studies.

• Scope The goal of this study was to determine if ancient wood can be analysed routinely in studies of archaeology and palaeogenetics. An experiment was designed which included blind testing, independent replicates, extensive contamination controls and rigorous statistical tests. Ten samples of ancient wood from major European forest tree genera were analysed with plastid DNA markers.

• Conclusions Authentic DNA was retrieved from wood samples up to 1000 years of age. A new tool for real-time vegetation history and archaeology is ready to use.

Key words: Ancient DNA, fossil wood, trnL intron, probability of authenticity, Abies, Pinus, Fagus, Quercus


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