DNA from Herbarium Specimens

Taylor, John W.; Swann, Eric C.

doi:10.1007/978-1-4612-4318-2_11

Cited by 54 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 24 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…They thus provide meaningful information on the status quo ante and on plant phylogeny. Very interestingly, they also provide information on the presence and evolution of plant pathogens, which of course have had a major impact on agricultural societies (Rogers and Bendich 1985;Bruns et al 1990;Rogers 1994;Taylor and Swann 1994;Savolainen et al 1995;Ristaino et al 2001;Blatter et al 2002b;Ristaino 2002). …”

Section: Cultivated Plants-cereals and Fruitsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ancient plant DNA in archaeobotany

Schlumbaum

Tensen

Jaenicke-Després

2007

Veget Hist Archaeobot

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Plant diaspores, tissues and wood are preserved in natural and anthropogenic sediments. Also, over the past centuries, plants have been collected in herbaria. These plant remains carry macroscopic and molecular information, making them a rich source for reconstructing past plant use, agriculture, diet or vegetation-they are thus proxies for past economies, ecology, migrations or trade. This article focuses on the application of ancient DNA analyses from plants excavated at Holocene archaeological sites. A short methodological section is added to illustrate possibilities and limitations of ancient DNA research in plants.

show abstract

Section: Cultivated Plants-cereals and Fruitsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ancient plant DNA in archaeobotany

Schlumbaum

Tensen

Jaenicke-Després

2007

Veget Hist Archaeobot

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…DNA suitable for rDNA amplification can be almost routinely extracted from dried and fresh specimens of fungi. A number of methods have recently been published, and while these differ in some respects, all were able to amplify DNA from specimens of considerable age, in some instances up to 100+ years (Savolainen et al 1995;Taylor & Swann 1994;Grube et al 1995;). These techniques therefore provide an opportunity to study molecular variation over long time periods and a recent example of work with environmental samples is the study by Gargas et al (1994) of specimens identified as Umbilicaria cylindrica from areas of glacier recession.…”

Section: Future Potentialmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Gargas & Taylor 1992;Gardes & Bruns 1993). As a result, PCR-based methods do not necessarily require the isolation of a fungal partner in pure culture, and as small amounts of DNA are retained in dead material, such methods are also suitable for the examination of dried specimens (Bruns et al 1990;White et al 1990;Haines & Cooper 1993;Taylor & Swann 1994;Grube et al 1995;Savolainen et al 1995;Cubero et al 1998).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Variation in thallus morphology in response to climatic and geographical distribution in an Usnea complex

Stevens

1992

The Lichenologist

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Molecular biological techniques now provide many opportunities for determining relationships between organisms. In lichen-forming fungi, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification can be undertaken with primers that have enhanced specificity for fungi, allowing the recovery of precise regions of the genome of the fungal partner. Such PCR techniques are suitable for the analysis of both fresh and dried specimens of great age, and as the techniques require only minimal amounts of starting material, they are suitable for the analysis of large numbers of specimens. PCR can be used to examine both conserved and variable regions of the fungal genome that may be taxonomically significant, and variability in these sequences can be used to describe species boundaries. The ease of analysis of large numbers of specimens without the need to purify or culture the fungal partner makes analysis and comparison of infra-and inter-specific relationships possible, and provides valuable information into their genetic background. Most molecular analyses undertaken with lichen-forming fungi have considered variation within ribosomal RNA clusters, and in this paper we consider the application and interpretation of such PCR-based analysis in the circumscription of species and in determining concepts for individuality and infra-specific groupings.

show abstract

“…The success seemed to depend very much on the length of the sequence, and best results were obtained with sequences shorter than 400 bp. In contrast, the age of the specimen did not appear to correlate with the extent of DNA degradation (Taylor & Swann 1994;Savolainen et al 1995;Drábková et al 2002). More recently, a lot of studies include herbarium samples successfully in many different molecular approaches from DNA sequencing to micro-satellites and AFLP techniques, but herbarium material is often seen as the 'last resort' when it is impossible to obtain silica dried material.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Rogers & Bendich 1985;Taylor & Swann 1994;Savolainen et al 1995;Drábková et al 2002;De Castro & Menale 2004). However, the extraction and amplification of DNA from herbarium material is highly dependent on the technique used (Drábková et al 2002) and the conditions in which specimens have been stored (Pyle & Adams 1989), thus making the use of herbarium specimens contentious and sometimes unreliable.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Historical herbarium specimens in plant molecular systematics — an example from the fern genus Lindsaea (Lindsaeaceae)

Lehtonen

Christenhusz

2010

Biologia

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

We extracted, amplified and sequenced DNA from historical herbarium specimens and silica-dried samples of the fern genus Lindsaea in order to study the sequencing success between the two kinds of samples. High quality sequences were obtained from 57% of the herbarium samples. The specimens age was found to be of little importance for sequencing success when less than 75 years, but the colour of a specimen was found more indicative of sequencing success. Shorter DNA fragments were sequenced successfully twice as often as longer fragments from the herbarium material; in relatively recently collected silica-dried material longer sequences were obtained almost as frequently as short ones. No obvious differences in sequencing success between material originating from different herbaria was observed. We conclude that by using specifically designed DNA extraction protocols and by sequencing short DNA fragments from carefully selected specimens, herbarium material and type specimens can be successfully used in molecular systematics. Typical material or specimens from the type locality (topotypes) should be preferred, when placing a species in a phylogeny.

show abstract

DNA from Herbarium Specimens

Cited by 54 publications

References 24 publications

Ancient plant DNA in archaeobotany

Ancient plant DNA in archaeobotany

Variation in thallus morphology in response to climatic and geographical distribution in an Usnea complex

Historical herbarium specimens in plant molecular systematics — an example from the fern genus Lindsaea (Lindsaeaceae)

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About