Palaeogenetics Lab

The palaeogenetic lab is specialized to analyse ancient sedimentary DNA (sedaDNA) from sediment cores (lakes or marine archives) or permafrost deposits. The lab is divided into two separate laboratory complexes handling modern and ancient DNA samples. Our focus study areas are Arctic terrestrial systems (Russia, Alaska, Canada) and coastal–marine polar ecosystems (North Pacific & Atlantic, Southern Oceans).

We apply metabarcoding (target-specific amplicon sequencing of terrestrial and aquatic vegetation), palaeometagenomics (non-target shotgun sequencing) and hybridization capture (target-enriched shotgun sequencing). We investigate spatial and temporal dynamics of taxonomic and functional composition derived from sedaDNA from ecosystem to population level. We analyse DNA proxy data in concert with traditional proxies and multivariate statistics to decipher relationships and dependencies between environment and biodiversity in the past.

We use the following molecular genetic approaches:

DNA isolation of sediment cores and organismic material
PCR & quantitative PCR
Metabarcoding
Metagenomic (DNA library prep and shotgun)
DNA hybridization capture
DNA fragment length analysis
Preparation for amplicon and shotgun Next-Generation Sequencing

Specialisms of the palaeogenetics lab:

Clean subsampling of sediment cores for ancient DNA analysis
Separation from the general genetic lab to prevent contamination risks
High degree of purity (UV ceiling lights, separation into pre-PCR and main rooms)
Isolation of ancient DNA from ancient samples (e.g. lake sediment, permafrost)
DNA library preparation of ancient DNA for shot-gun sequencing

Lab equipment includes: