Ancient DNA extraction methods for herbarium specimens: When is it worth the effort?

ABSTRACT:

Premise

Herbaria harbor a tremendous number of plant specimens that are rarely used for molecular systematic studies, largely due to the difficulty in extracting sufficient amounts of high-quality DNA from the preserved plant material.

Methods

We compared the standard Qiagen DNeasy Plant Mini Kit and a specific protocol for extracting ancient DNA (aDNA) (the N-phenacylthiazolium bromide and dithiothreitol [PTB-DTT] extraction method) from two different plant genera (Xanthium and Salix). The included herbarium materials covered about two centuries of plant collections. To analyze the success of DNA extraction using each method, a subset of samples was subjected to a standard library preparation as well as target-enrichment approaches.

Results

The P

SUBMITTER: Marincek P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9215277 | biostudies-literature | 2022 May-Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature