Recent advances in ancient DNA research and their implications for archaeobotany
Recent advances in ancient DNA research and their implications for archaeobotany
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DOI：
10.1007/s00334-014-0489-4
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发表时间：
2015-01-01
影响因子：
2.5
通讯作者：
Schlumbaum, Angela
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Brown, Terence A.;Cappellini, Enrico;Schlumbaum, Angela
生物分子考古学的范围和雄心正在经历着快速的变化，这是由于用于分析考古标本中古代DNA的新的‘下一代’测序(NGS)方法的发展。这些方法还没有被广泛应用于考古植物学材料，但它们的实用性已经通过干燥、浸水和烧焦的遗骸得到证明。未来NGS的使用可能会开辟新的研究领域，而传统的DNA测序方法是难以或不可能的。利用考古植物学外植体进行物种鉴定应该变得更加常规，不仅是烧焦的谷物，而且是在考古植物学背景下可能遇到的大多数物种。在不久的将来，也有可能区分不同的亚种群体，如谷类地方品种。表型鉴定--利用aDNA测序来推断考古标本的生物学特征--将成为可能，从而提高我们对谷类开花行为等特征的理解，当与对保存下来的RNA和蛋白质的研究相结合时，将能够评估复杂的表型，如环境耐受性和营养质量。对整个古代植物基因组的测序也可能产生重大影响。与过去对古代植物DNA的研究一样，实现NGS提供的新潜力将需要考古学家和考古植物学研究界的遗传学家之间富有成效的合作。
The scope and ambition of biomolecular archaeology is undergoing rapid change due to the development of new 'next generation' sequencing (NGS) methods for analysis of ancient DNA in archaeological specimens. These methods have not yet been applied extensively to archaeobotanical material but their utility has been demonstrated with desiccated, waterlogged and charred remains. The future use of NGS is likely to open up new areas of investigation that have been difficult or impossible with the traditional approach to aDNA sequencing. Species identification should become more routine with archaeobotanical explants, not just with charred grain but with most if not all species likely to be encountered in an archaeobotanical setting. Distinctions between different subspecies groups such as cereal landraces will also be possible in the near future. Phenotypic characterization, in which aDNA sequencing is used to infer the biological characteristics of an archaeological specimen, will become possible, improving our understanding of traits such as flowering behaviour of cereals, and when combined with studies of preserved RNA and protein will enable complex phenotypes such as environmental tolerance and nutritional quality to be assessed. The sequencing of entire ancient plant genomes is also likely to have significant impact. As with past studies of ancient plant DNA, realization of the new potential provided by NGS will require productive collaboration between archaeologists and geneticists within the archaeobotanical research community.