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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, February 2005, p. 1012-1017, Vol. 71, No. 2
0099-2240/05/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.71.2.1012-1017.2005
Copyright © 2005, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Beringian Paleoecology Inferred from Permafrost-Preserved Fungal DNA{dagger}

Magnus C. Lydolph ,1,2* Jonas Jacobsen,1,2,{ddagger} Peter Arctander,2 M. Thomas P. Gilbert,3,4 David A. Gilichinsky,5 Anders J. Hansen,2,6 Eske Willerslev,2,3 and Lene Lange1

Microbial Discovery, Novozymes A/S, Bagsvaerd,1 Department of Evolutionary Biology, Biological Institute,2 Department of Forensic Genetics, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark,6 Henry Welcome Ancient Biomolecules Centre, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom,3 Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona,4 Soil Cryology Laboratory, Institute for PhysicoChemical and Biological Problems in Soil Science, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow Region, Russia5

Received 17 June 2004/ Accepted 16 September 2004

The diversity of fungi in permanently frozen soil from northeastern Siberia was studied by culture-independent PCR amplification of diverse environmental 18S rRNA genes. Elaborate protocols to avoid contamination during drilling, sampling, and amplification were used. A broad diversity of eukaryotic DNA sequences that were 510 bp long, including sequences of various fungi, plants, and invertebrates, could be obtained reproducibly from samples that were up to 300,000 to 400,000 years old. The sequences revealed that ancient fungal communities included a diversity of cold-adapted yeasts, dark-pigmented fungi, plant-parasitic fungi, and lichen mycobionts. DNA traces of tree-associated macrofungi in a modern tundra sample indicated that there was a shift in fungal diversity following the last ice age and supported recent results showing that there was a severe change in the plant composition in northeastern Siberia during this period. Interestingly, DNA sequences with high homology to sequences of coprophilic and keratinophilic fungi indicated that feces, hair, skin, and nails could have been sources of ancient megafauna DNA recently reported to be present in small amounts of Siberian permafrost sediments.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Microbial Discovery, Novozymes A/S, Smørmosevej 25 1B1, DK-2880 Bagsvaerd, Denmark. Phone: 45 44 42 78 10. Fax: 45 44 42 78 28. E-mail: mcly{at}novozymes.com.

{dagger} Supplemental material for this article may be found at http://aem.asm.org/.

{ddagger} M.C.L. and J.J. contributed equally to this work.

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, February 2005, p. 1012-1017, Vol. 71, No. 2
0099-2240/05/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.71.2.1012-1017.2005
Copyright © 2005, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



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