Planktonic foraminifera eDNA signature deposited on the seafloor remains preserved after burial in marine sediments ...

• Main Authors: Barrenechea Angeles, Ines, Lejzerowicz, Franck, Cordier, Tristan, Scheplitz, Janin, Kucera, Michal, Ariztegui, Daniel, Pawlowski, Jan, Morard, Raphael
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: PANGAEA 2020
• Subjects: Foraminifera; Metabarcoding; microfossils; North Atlantic; sedimentary ancient DNA; Center for Marine Environmental Sciences MARUM; Newfoundland; Planktonic foraminifera
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.1594/pangaea.923417; https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.923417

Environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding of marine sediments has revealed large amounts of sequences assigned to planktonic taxa. How this planktonic eDNA is delivered on the seafloor and preserved in the sediment is not well understood. We address these questions by comparing metabarcoding and microfossil foraminifera assemblages in sediment cores taken off Newfoundland across a strong ecological gradient. We detected planktonic foraminifera eDNA down to 30 cm and observed that the planktonic/benthic amplicon ratio changed with depth. The relative proportion of planktonic foraminiferal amplicons remained low from the surface down to 10 cm, likely due to the presence of DNA from living benthic foraminifera. Below 10 cm, the relative proportion of planktonic foraminifera amplicons rocketed, likely reflecting the higher proportion of planktonic eDNA in the DNA burial flux. In addition, the microfossil and metabarcoding assemblages showed a congruent pattern indicating that planktonic foraminifera eDNA is ...