Genome-scale sequencing and analysis of human, wolf, and bison DNA from 25,000-year-old sediment

Cervidae antlers exploited to manufacture prehistoric tools and hunting implements as a reliable source of ancient DNA

Antler is one of the primary animal raw materials exploited for technical purposes by the hunter-gatherer groups of the Eurasian Upper Palaeolithic (UP) all over the ecological range of deers, and beyond. It was exhaustively employed to produce one of the most critical tools for the survival of the UP societies: hunting weapons. However, antler implements can be made from diverse deer taxa, with different ecological requirements and ethological behaviours. Identifying the antler's origin at a taxonomic level is thus essential in improving our knowledge of humans' functional, practical and symbolic choices, as well as the human-animal interface during Prehistoric times. Nevertheless, palaeogenetics analyses have focused mainly on bone and teeth, with genetic studies of antler generally focused on modern deer conservation. Here we present the results of the first whole mitochondrial genome ancient DNA (aDNA) analysis by means of in-solution hybridisation capture of antlers from pre-Holocene archaeological contexts. We analysed a set of 50 Palaeolithic and Neolithic (c. 34-8ka) antler and osseous objects from South-Western Europe, Central Europe, South-Western Asia and the Caucasus. We successfully obtained aDNA, allowing us to identify the exploited taxa and demonstrate the archaeological relevance of those finds. Moreover, as most of the antlers were sampled using a minimally-invasive method, further analyses (morphometric, technical, genetic, radiometric and more) remain possible on these objects.

Late Pleistocene stickleback environmental genomes reveal the chronology of freshwater adaptation

Directly observing the chronology and tempo of adaptation in response to ecological change is rarely possible in natural ecosystems. Sedimentary ancient DNA (sedaDNA) has been shown to be a tractable source of genome-scale data of long-dead organisms1,2,3 and to thereby potentially provide an understanding of the evolutionary histories of past populations.4,5 To date, time series of ecosystem biodiversity have been reconstructed from sedaDNA, typically using DNA metabarcoding or shotgun sequence data generated from less than 1 g of sediment.6,7 Here, we maximize sequence coverage by extracting DNA from ∼50× more sediment per sample than the majority of previous studies1,2,3 to achieve genotype resolution. From a time series of Late Pleistocene sediments spanning from a marine to freshwater ecosystem, we compare adaptive genotypes reconstructed from the environmental genomes of three-spined stickleback at key time points of this transition. We find a staggered temporal dynamic in which freshwater alleles at known loci of large effect in marine-freshwater divergence of three-spined stickleback (e.g., EDA)8 were already established during the brackish phase of the formation of the isolation basin. However, marine alleles were still detected across the majority of marine-freshwater divergence-associated loci, even after the complete isolation of the lake from marine ingression. Our retrospective approach to studying adaptation from environmental genomes of three-spined sticklebacks at the end of the last glacial period complements contemporary experimental approaches9,10,11 and highlights the untapped potential for retrospective "evolve and resequence" natural experiments using sedaDNA.

Non-invasive real-time genomic monitoring of the critically endangered kākāpō

We used non-invasive real-time genomic approaches to monitor one of the last surviving populations of the critically endangered kākāpō (Strigops habroptilus). We first established an environmental DNA metabarcoding protocol to identify the distribution of kākāpō and other vertebrate species in a highly localized manner using soil samples. Harnessing real-time nanopore sequencing and the high-quality kākāpō reference genome, we then extracted species-specific DNA from soil. We combined long read-based haplotype phasing with known individual genomic variation in the kākāpō population to identify the presence of individuals, and confirmed these genomically informed predictions through detailed metadata on kākāpō distributions. This study shows that individual identification is feasible through nanopore sequencing of environmental DNA, with important implications for future efforts in the application of genomics to the conservation of rare species, potentially expanding the application of real-time environmental DNA research from monitoring species distribution to inferring fitness parameters such as genomic diversity and inbreeding.

aMeta: an accurate and memory-efficient ancient metagenomic profiling workflow

Analysis of microbial data from archaeological samples is a growing field with great potential for understanding ancient environments, lifestyles, and diseases. However, high error rates have been a challenge in ancient metagenomics, and the availability of computational frameworks that meet the demands of the field is limited. Here, we propose aMeta, an accurate metagenomic profiling workflow for ancient DNA designed to minimize the amount of false discoveries and computer memory requirements. Using simulated data, we benchmark aMeta against a current state-of-the-art workflow and demonstrate its superiority in microbial detection and authentication, as well as substantially lower usage of computer memory.

Genome-wide analysis of a collective grave from Mentesh Tepe provides insight into the population structure of early neolithic population in the South Caucasus

Despite the localisation of the southern Caucasus at the outskirt of the Fertile Crescent, the Neolithisation process started there only at the beginning of the sixth millennium with the Shomutepe-Shulaveri culture of yet unclear origins. We present here genomic data for three new individuals from Mentesh Tepe in Azerbaijan, dating back to the beginnings of the Shomutepe-Shulaveri culture. We evidence that two juveniles, buried embracing each other, were brothers. We show that the Mentesh Tepe Neolithic population is the product of a recent gene flow between the Anatolian farmer-related population and the Caucasus/Iranian population, demonstrating that population admixture was at the core of the development of agriculture in the South Caucasus. By comparing Bronze Age individuals from the South Caucasus with Neolithic individuals from the same region, including Mentesh Tepe, we evidence that gene flows between Pontic Steppe populations and Mentesh Tepe-related groups contributed to the makeup of the Late Bronze Age and modern Caucasian populations. Our results show that the high cultural diversity during the Neolithic period of the South Caucasus deserves close genetic analysis.

Pleistocene mitogenomes reconstructed from the environmental DNA of permafrost sediments

Traditionally, paleontologists have relied on the morphological features of bones and teeth to reconstruct the evolutionary relationships of extinct animals.¹ In recent decades, the analysis of ancient DNA recovered from macrofossils has provided a powerful means to evaluate these hypotheses and develop novel phylogenetic models.² Although a great deal of life history data can be extracted from bones, their scarcity and associated biases limit their information potential. The paleontological record of Beringia³-the unglaciated areas and former land bridge between northeast Eurasia and northwest North America-is relatively robust thanks to its perennially frozen ground favoring fossil preservation.^4,5 However, even here, the macrofossil record is significantly lacking in small-bodied fauna (e.g., rodents and birds), whereas questions related to migration and extirpation, even among well-studied taxa, remain crudely resolved. The growing sophistication of ancient environmental DNA (eDNA) methods have allowed for the identification of species within terrestrial/aquatic ecosystems,^6-12 in paleodietary reconstructions,^13-19 and facilitated genomic reconstructions from cave contexts.^8,20-22 Murchie et al.^6,23 used a capture enrichment approach to sequence a diverse range of faunal and floral DNA from permafrost silts deposited during the Pleistocene-Holocene transition.²⁴ Here, we expand on their work with the mitogenomic assembly and phylogenetic placement of Equus caballus (caballine horse), Bison priscus (steppe bison), Mammuthus primigenius (woolly mammoth), and Lagopus lagopus (willow ptarmigan) eDNA from multiple permafrost cores spanning the last 30,000 years. We identify a diverse metagenomic spectra of Pleistocene fauna and identify the eDNA co-occurrence of distinct Eurasian and American mitogenomic lineages.

Ancient Metagenomic Studies: Considerations for the Wider Scientific Community

Like modern metagenomics, ancient metagenomics is a highly data-rich discipline, with the added challenge that the DNA of interest is degraded and, depending on the sample type, in low abundance. This requires the application of specialized measures during molecular experiments and computational analyses. Furthermore, researchers often work with finite sample sizes, which impedes optimal experimental design and control of confounding factors, and with ethically sensitive samples necessitating the consideration of additional guidelines. In September 2020, early career researchers in the field of ancient metagenomics met (Standards, Precautions & Advances in Ancient Metagenomics 2 [SPAAM2] community meeting) to discuss the state of the field and how to address current challenges. Here, in an effort to bridge the gap between ancient and modern metagenomics, we highlight and reflect upon some common misconceptions, provide a brief overview of the challenges in our field, and point toward useful resources for potential reviewers and newcomers to the field.

Ancient DNA diffuses from human bones to cave stones

Recent studies have demonstrated the potential to recover ancient human mitochondrial DNA and nuclear DNA from cave sediments. However, the source of such sedimentary ancient DNA is still under discussion. Here we report the case of a Bronze Age human skeleton, found in a limestone cave, which was covered with layers of calcite stone deposits. By analyzing samples representing bones and stone deposits from this cave, we were able to: i) reconstruct the full human mitochondrial genome from the bones and the stones (same haplotype); ii) determine the sex of the individual; iii) reconstruct six ancient bacterial and archaeal genomes; and finally iv) demonstrate better ancient DNA preservation in the stones than in the bones. Thereby, we demonstrate the direct diffusion of human DNA from bones into the surrounding environment and show the potential to reconstruct ancient microbial genomes from such cave deposits, which represent an additional paleoarcheological archive resource.

Integrating multi-taxon palaeogenomes and sedimentary ancient DNA to study past ecosystem dynamics

Ancient DNA (aDNA) has played a major role in our understanding of the past. Important advances in the sequencing and analysis of aDNA from a range of organisms have enabled a detailed understanding of processes such as past demography, introgression, domestication, adaptation and speciation. However, to date and with the notable exception of microbiomes and sediments, most aDNA studies have focused on single taxa or taxonomic groups, making the study of changes at the community level challenging. This is rather surprising because current sequencing and analytical approaches allow us to obtain and analyse aDNA from multiple source materials. When combined, these data can enable the simultaneous study of multiple taxa through space and time, and could thus provide a more comprehensive understanding of ecosystem-wide changes. It is therefore timely to develop an integrative approach to aDNA studies by combining data from multiple taxa and substrates. In this review, we discuss the various applications, associated challenges and future prospects of such an approach.

Palaeogenetics: Dirt, what is it good for? Everything

Researchers in the ancient DNA community have suspected for well over a decade that ancient whole genomes can be found in sediments. Three new studies now provide such evidence and, with it, endless possibilities for future studies of sedimentary ancient DNA.