title: Ancient biomolecules from deep ice cores reveal a forested southern Greenland.
abstract: It is difficult to obtain fossil data from the 10% of Earth's terrestrial surface that is covered by thick glaciers and ice sheets, and hence, knowledge of the paleoenvironments of these regions has remained limited. We show that DNA and amino acids from buried organisms can be recovered from the basal sections of deep ice cores, enabling reconstructions of past flora and fauna. We show that high-altitude southern Greenland, currently lying below more than 2 kilometers of ice, was inhabited by a diverse array of conifer trees and insects within the past million years. The results provide direct evidence in support of a forested southern Greenland and suggest that many deep ice cores may contain genetic records of paleoenvironments in their basal sections.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Ancient Genetics, University of Copenhagen, Denmark. ewillerslev@bi.ku.dk
authors.forename: Eske
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Willerslev
authors.forename: Enrico
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Cappellini
authors.forename: Wouter
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Boomsma
authors.forename: Rasmus
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Nielsen
authors.forename: Martin B
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Hebsgaard
authors.forename: Tina B
authors.initials: TB
authors.lastname: Brand
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hofreiter
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bunce
authors.forename: Hendrik N
authors.initials: HN
authors.lastname: Poinar
authors.forename: Dorthe
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Dahl-Jensen
authors.forename: Sigfus
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Johnsen
authors.forename: Jørgen Peder
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Steffensen
authors.forename: Ole
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Bennike
authors.forename: Jean-Luc
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Schwenninger
authors.forename: Roger
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Nathan
authors.forename: Simon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Armitage
authors.forename: Cees-Jan
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: de Hoog
authors.forename: Vasily
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Alfimov
authors.forename: Marcus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Christl
authors.forename: Juerg
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Beer
authors.forename: Raimund
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Muscheler
authors.forename: Joel
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Barker
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sharp
authors.forename: Kirsty E H
authors.initials: KE
authors.lastname: Penkman
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Haile
authors.forename: Pierre
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Taberlet
authors.forename: M Thomas P
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Gilbert
authors.forename: Antonella
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Casoli
authors.forename: Elisa
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Campani
authors.forename: Matthew J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Collins
mesh_terms: D000596:Amino Acids / Q000032:analysis* / Q000266:history / Q000302:isolation & purification; D000818:Animals; D001499:Bayes Theorem; D002980:Climate; D004247:DNA / Q000032:analysis* / Q000266:history / Q000302:isolation & purification; D017753:Ecosystem; D005580:Fossils; D005843:Geography; D006116:Greenland; D049690:History, Ancient; D046448:Ice Cover / Q000737:chemistry*; D007448:Invertebrates / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics; D010944:Plants / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D013995:Time; D014197:Trees
chemical_list: D000596:Amino Acids; D004247:DNA