Data from: High-throughput sequencing of ancient plant and mammal DNA preserved in herbivore middens

The study of arid palaeoenvironments is often frustrated by the poor or non-existent preservation of plant and animal material, yet these environments are of considerable environmental importance. The analysis of pollen and macrofossils isolated from herbivore middens has been an invaluable source of information regarding past environments and the nature of ecological fluctuations within arid zones. The application of ancient DNA (aDNA) techniques to hot, arid zone middens remains unexplored. This paper attempts to retrieve and characterise aDNA from four Southern Hemisphere fossil middens; three located in hot, arid regions of Australia and one sample from South Africa’s Western Cape province. The middens are dated to between 30,490 (±380) and 710 (±70) cal yr BP. The Brockman Ridge midden in this study is potentially the oldest sample from which aDNA has been successfully extracted in Australia. The application of high-throughput sequencing approaches to profile the biotic remains preserved in midden material has not been attempted to date and this study clearly demonstrates the potential of such a methodology. In addition to the taxa previously detected via macrofossil and palynological analyses, aDNA analysis indentified unreported plant and animal taxa, some of which are locally extinct or endemic. The survival and preservation of DNA in hot, arid environments is a complex and poorly understood process that is both sporadic and rare, but the survival of DNA through desiccation may be important. Herbivore middens now present an important source of material for DNA metabarcoding studies of hot, arid palaeoenvironments and can potentially be used to analyse middens in these environments throughout Australia, Africa, the Americas and the Middle East.干旱古环境研究常因动植物遗存保存不佳或完全缺失而受阻，但这类环境却具有极高的研究价值。从植食动物粪堆（herbivore midden）中分离出的花粉与大化石分析，一直是了解过去环境以及干旱区生态波动本质的宝贵信息来源。将古DNA（ancient DNA, aDNA）技术应用于炎热干旱区粪堆的研究仍未得到探索。本研究尝试从南半球的4处化石粪堆中获取并鉴定古DNA：其中3处位于澳大利亚炎热干旱区，1处采自南非西开普省。这些粪堆的校正年代介于710（±70）至30490（±380）个校准年前（cal yr BP）。本研究中的布罗克曼岭粪堆，可能是澳大利亚境内成功提取古DNA的最古老样本。此前尚无研究尝试利用高通量测序技术对粪堆遗存中的生物遗体进行谱型分析，本研究清晰展现了该方法的应用潜力。除了此前通过大化石与孢粉分析检出的类群外，古DNA分析还鉴定出了未被报道过的动植物类群，其中部分类群在当地已灭绝或为特有种。DNA在炎热干旱环境中的留存与保存是一个复杂且尚未被充分理解的过程，其发生具有偶发性与稀缺性，但通过干燥作用实现的DNA留存或许具有重要意义。如今，植食动物粪堆已成为炎热干旱古环境DNA宏条形码（DNA metabarcoding）研究的重要材料来源，且有望用于分析全球范围内澳大利亚、非洲、美洲及中东地区此类环境中的粪堆遗存。