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Ancient tree genomes for old questions
  • Andrew Hipp,
  • Desanka Lazic
Andrew Hipp
The Morton Arboretum

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Desanka Lazic
University of Göttingen
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Abstract

Most foundational work on the evolution and migration of plant species relies on genomic data from contemporary samples. Ancient plant samples can give us access to allele sequences and distributions on the landscape dating back to the mid Holocene or earlier (Gugerli et al., 2005). Nuclear DNA from ancient wood, however, has been mostly inaccessible until now. In a From the Cover article in this issue of Molecular Ecology, Wagner et al. (2023) present the first nuclear genomes from ancient to subfossil oak wood, including two samples dated to the 15th century and one that dates to more than 3,500 years ago. These first assembled nuclear genomes from ancient trees open the possibility for investigating species adaptation, migration, divergence, and hybridization in the deep past. They pave the way for what we hope will be a new era in the use of paleogenomics to study Holocene tree histories.
21 Sep 2023Submitted to Molecular Ecology
22 Sep 2023Submission Checks Completed
22 Sep 2023Assigned to Editor
22 Sep 2023Review(s) Completed, Editorial Evaluation Pending
22 Sep 2023Reviewer(s) Assigned
16 Oct 2023Editorial Decision: Revise Minor
20 Nov 20231st Revision Received
20 Nov 2023Submission Checks Completed
20 Nov 2023Assigned to Editor
20 Nov 2023Review(s) Completed, Editorial Evaluation Pending