Ancient Microbiomes in the Environment

Dear Colleagues,

The analysis of ancient DNA in sediments (i.e., sedimentary ancient DNA; sedaDNA) using molecular biological tools is rapidly increasing in popularity. The approach offers the ability to reconstruct the diversity, community composition, and functioning of Quaternary coastal marine and terrestrial ecosystems spanning all domains of life (bacteria, archaea, eukarya, and viruses) and their responses to paleoenvironmental perturbations. Moreover, the approach can complement and refine paleoenvironmental and palaeoecological interpretations inferred from the parallel analysis of (in)organic and isotopic geochemical parameters and micro- and macrofossils. We expect that the emerging field will soon offer novel opportunities to vastly increase our knowledge in, for example, microbial genome evolution processes, to predict ecosystem responses in the context of human-induced global changes and to assist geologists in the reconstruction of microbial biogeochemical cycling processes that occurred in deep time.

This Special Issue invites reviews and original contributions to the field of sedaDNA not limited to current accomplishments, future challenges and prospects, and novel methodological approaches (i.e., bioinformatical, biostatistical and analytical tools).

Dr. Marco Coolen
Guest Editor

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• ancient sedimentary DNA
• molecular paleoecology
• paleomicrobiology
• paleoenvironmental perturbations
• bioinformatics and biostatistics