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Development of Andvanced Compatible Materials for the Restoration of Cultural Heritage Assets (MYTHOS): Fibre DNA Analysis.
Abstract
Restoration and cleaning processes for the preservation of textile cultural heritage objects must be tested with similar materials, before treating the unique and irreplaceable originals. To develop such reference materials for hemp and linen based textiles, is the main focus of the MYTHOS project. In the fibre DNA analysis, molecular techniques are applied to test if DNA traces, isolated from the historic textiles, can be used to get a genetic fingerprint of the Romanian hemp landraces used for the historic textiles. The presented analysis uses hemp fibre samples of artefacts from the National Museum of the Romanian Peasant museum and a collection of representative European hemp varieties and landraces. We show that it is possible to isolate genomic DNA from the textiles and to perform a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis to amplify DNA sequences. But as the DNA is highly degraded, the DNA fragments available for analysis are very small. Therefore the available microsatellite (SSR) markers are not suitable, but smaller amplicons (mini-SSRs) would need to be developed.
... The cultivation of a collection of hemp modern varieties followed a laborious analysis of historical DNA from the heritage bast samples [9]. The hemp variety collection can be used to compare the physical properties of the fibres to the fibres in the historic textiles. ...
The textiles make up a fragile heritage, continuously exposed to erosion through the natural aging of the fibres, environmental conditions and human actions. The aim of the MYTHOS project is the development of textiles from natural fibers (flax and hemp) which are biologically and technologically similar to the textiles found in heritage collections. A multidisciplinary research, involving specialists in ethnography, physics, molecular biology, chemistry and textile industry started with the analysis of the ethnographic textiles found in the National Museum of the Romanian Peasant’s collection and a study of the traditional methods of cultivation and processing of flax and hemp. The textiles obtained as a result, similar to the heritage textiles, will be tested in restoration work, the results of this project seeking to benefit all the cultural organizations which hold collections of bast fibre textiles.
Cannabis sativa L. is an important economic plant for the production of food, fiber, oils, and intoxicants. However, lack of sufficient simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers has limited the development of cannabis genetic research. Here, large-scale development of expressed sequence tag simple sequence repeat (EST-SSR) markers was performed to obtain more informative genetic markers, and to assess genetic diversity in cannabis (Cannabis sativa L.). Based on the cannabis transcriptome, 4,577 SSRs were identified from 3,624 ESTs. From there, a total of 3,442 complementary primer pairs were designed as SSR markers. Among these markers, trinucleotide repeat motifs (50.99%) were the most abundant, followed by hexanucleotide (25.13%), dinucleotide (16.34%), tetranucloetide (3.8%), and pentanucleotide (3.74%) repeat motifs, respectively. The AAG/CTT trinucleotide repeat (17.96%) was the most abundant motif detected in the SSRs. One hundred and seventeen EST-SSR markers were randomly selected to evaluate primer quality in 24 cannabis varieties. Among these 117 markers, 108 (92.31%) were successfully amplified and 87 (74.36%) were polymorphic. Forty-five polymorphic primer pairs were selected to evaluate genetic diversity and relatedness among the 115 cannabis genotypes. The results showed that 115 varieties could be divided into 4 groups primarily based on geography: Northern China, Europe, Central China, and Southern China. Moreover, the coefficient of similarity when comparing cannabis from Northern China with the European group cannabis was higher than that when comparing with cannabis from the other two groups, owing to a similar climate. This study outlines the first large-scale development of SSR markers for cannabis. These data may serve as a foundation for the development of genetic linkage, quantitative trait loci mapping, and marker-assisted breeding of cannabis.
Degraded DNA is often analyzed in forensic genetics laboratories. Reliable analysis of degraded DNA is of great importance, since its results impact the quality and reliability of expert testimonies. Recently, a number of whole genome amplification (WGA) methods have been proposed as preamplification tools. They work on the premise of being able to generate microgram quantities of DNA from as little as the quantity of DNA from a single cell. We chose, investigated, and compared seven WGA methods to evaluate their ability to “recover” degraded and nondegraded DNA: degenerate oligonucleotide-primed PCR, primer extension preamplification PCR, GenomePlex™ WGA commercial kit (Sigma), multiple displacement amplification, GenomiPhi™ Amplification kit (Amersham Biosciences), restriction and circularization-aided rolling circle amplification, and blunt-end ligation-mediated WGA. The efficiency and reliability of those methods were analyzed and compared using SGMPlus, YFiler, mtDNA, and Y-chromosome SNP typing. The best results for nondegraded DNA were obtained with GenomiPhi and PEP methods. In the case of degraded DNA (200 bp), the best results were obtained with GenomePlex which successfully amplified also severely degraded DNA (100 bp), thus enabling correct typing of mtDNA and Y-SNP loci. WGA may be very useful in analysis of low copy number DNA or degraded DNA in forensic genetics, especially after introduction of some improvements (sample pooling and replicate DNA typing).
Electronic supplementary material
The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s00414-012-0764-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Dried plant herbarium specimens are potentially a valuable source of DNA. Efforts to obtain genetic information from this source are often hindered by an inability to obtain amplifiable DNA as herbarium DNA is typically highly degraded. DNA post-mortem damage may not only reduce the number of amplifiable template molecules, but may also lead to the generation of erroneous sequence information. A qualitative and quantitative assessment of DNA post-mortem damage is essential to determine the accuracy of molecular data from herbarium specimens. In this study we present an assessment of DNA damage as miscoding lesions in herbarium specimens using 454-sequencing of amplicons derived from plastid, mitochondrial, and nuclear DNA. In addition, we assess DNA degradation as a result of strand breaks and other types of polymerase non-bypassable damage by quantitative real-time PCR. Comparing four pairs of fresh and herbarium specimens of the same individuals we quantitatively assess post-mortem DNA damage, directly after specimen preparation, as well as after long-term herbarium storage. After specimen preparation we estimate the proportion of gene copy numbers of plastid, mitochondrial, and nuclear DNA to be 2.4-3.8% of fresh control DNA and 1.0-1.3% after long-term herbarium storage, indicating that nearly all DNA damage occurs on specimen preparation. In addition, there is no evidence of preferential degradation of organelle versus nuclear genomes. Increased levels of C→T/G→A transitions were observed in old herbarium plastid DNA, representing 21.8% of observed miscoding lesions. We interpret this type of post-mortem DNA damage-derived modification to have arisen from the hydrolytic deamination of cytosine during long-term herbarium storage. Our results suggest that reliable sequence data can be obtained from herbarium specimens.
Cannabis sativa has been cultivated throughout human history as a source of fiber, oil and food, and for its medicinal and intoxicating properties. Selective breeding has produced cannabis plants for specific uses, including high-potency marijuana strains and hemp cultivars for fiber and seed production. The molecular biology underlying cannabinoid biosynthesis and other traits of interest is largely unexplored.
We sequenced genomic DNA and RNA from the marijuana strain Purple Kush using shortread approaches. We report a draft haploid genome sequence of 534 Mb and a transcriptome of 30,000 genes. Comparison of the transcriptome of Purple Kush with that of the hemp cultivar 'Finola' revealed that many genes encoding proteins involved in cannabinoid and precursor pathways are more highly expressed in Purple Kush than in 'Finola'. The exclusive occurrence of Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinolic acid synthase in the Purple Kush transcriptome, and its replacement by cannabidiolic acid synthase in 'Finola', may explain why the psychoactive cannabinoid Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) is produced in marijuana but not in hemp. Resequencing the hemp cultivars 'Finola' and 'USO-31' showed little difference in gene copy numbers of cannabinoid pathway enzymes. However, single nucleotide variant analysis uncovered a relatively high level of variation among four cannabis types, and supported a separation of marijuana and hemp.
The availability of the Cannabis sativa genome enables the study of a multifunctional plant that occupies a unique role in human culture. Its availability will aid the development of therapeutic marijuana strains with tailored cannabinoid profiles and provide a basis for the breeding of hemp with improved agronomic characteristics.
DNA becomes progressively more fragmented as biological tissue degrades resulting in decreasing ability to gain a complete DNA profile. Successful identification of samples exhibiting very high levels of DNA degradation may be complicated by presenting in minute quantities. The industry standard method for human DNA identification utilising short tandem repeats (STR) may produce partial or no DNA profile with such samples. We report a comparative study of genotyping using STRs, mini-STRs and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) with template at different levels of degradation in varying amounts. Two methods of assessing quantity and quality of a DNA sample prior to genotyping were investigated. The QIAxcel capillary gel electrophoresis system provided a rapid, cost effective screening method for assessing sample quality. A real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR) assay was able to simultaneously quantify total human DNA, male DNA, DNA degradation and PCR inhibition. The extent of DNA degradation could be assessed with reasonable accuracy to 62.5 pg and genomic targets could be quantified to a lower limit of 15.6 pg. The qPCR assay was able to detect male DNA to a lower limit of 20 pg in a 1:1,000 background of female DNA. By considering the amount of DNA and the degradation ratio of a sample, a general prediction of genotyping success using AmpFlSTR® Profiler Plus®, MiniFiler™ kits and SNP analysis can be made. The results indicate mini-STRs and SNP markers are usually more successful in typing degraded samples and in cases of extreme DNA degradation (≤200 bp) and template amounts below 250 pg, mini-STR and SNP analysis yielded significantly more complete profiles and lower match probabilities than corresponding STR profiles.
Cannabis sativa is the most frequently used of all illicit drugs in the USA. Cannabis has been used throughout history for its stems in the production of hemp fiber, seed for oil and food, and buds and leaves as a psychoactive drug. Short tandem repeats (STRs) were chosen as molecular markers owing to their distinct advantages over other genetic methods. STRs are codominant, can be standardized such that reproducibility between laboratories can be easily achieved, have a high discrimination power, and can be multiplexed. In this study, six STR markers previously described for C. sativa were multiplexed into one reaction. The multiplex reaction was able to individualize 98 cannabis samples (14 hemp and 84 marijuana, authenticated as originating from 33 of the 50 states of the USA) and detect 29 alleles averaging 4.8 alleles per loci. The data did not relate the samples from the same state to each other. This is the first study to report a single-reaction sixplex and apply it to the analysis of almost 100 cannabis samples of known geographic origin.
The purpose of this review is to summarize the status of DNA-based methods for the identification and individualization of marijuana. In forensics, both identification of a substance as marijuana and the subsequent individualization of a sample may be desired for casework. Marijuana identification methods in the United States primarily include biochemical tests and, less frequently, DNA-based tests. Under special circumstances, DNA-based tests can be useful. For example, if the quantity of seized marijuana is extremely small and/or biochemical tests do not detect any D9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), DNA identification of plant material as Cannabis is still possible. This circumstance can arise when seeds, trace residue, tiny leaf fragments, or fine roots need to be analyzed. Methods for the individualization of marijuana include amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP), random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD), and short tandem repeat (STR) techniques that link an evidentiary sample to a source. Marijuana growers propagate their plants either by seed or by cloning. Seed-generated marijuana plants are expected to have unique DNA profiles analogous to a human population. Cloned marijuana plants, however, exhibit identical DNA profiles that allow for tracking of plant material derived from a common genetic lineage. The authors have validated the AFLP method for marijuana samples and are constructing a comparative database of marijuana seizure samples to estimate the expected frequency of a DNA profile match between unrelated plants. Continued development of DNA-based methods for plants can be useful for marijuana and other types of plant evidence in forensics.
A developmental validation study based on recommendations of the Scientific Working Group on DNA Analysis Methods (SWGDAM) was conducted on a multiplex system of 10 Cannabis sativa short tandem repeat loci. Amplification of the loci in four multiplex reactions was tested across DNA from dried root, stem, and leaf sources, and DNA from fresh, frozen, and dried leaf tissue with a template DNA range of 10.0–0.01 ng. The loci were amplified and scored consistently for all DNA sources when DNA template was in the range of 10.0–1.0 ng. Some allelic dropout and PCR failure occurred in reactions with lower template DNA amounts. Overall, amplification was best using 10.0 ng of template DNA from dried leaf tissue indicating that this is the optimal source material. Cross species amplification was observed in Humulus lupulus for three loci but there was no allelic overlap. This is the first study following SWGDAM validation guidelines to validate short tandem repeat markers for forensic use in plants.
The rapid development, success, and occasional failures of forensic DNA profiling are highly publicised, and as a consequence
are well known to the scientific and public communities alike. Over the same period of time that forensic DNA typing has accelerated
onto the scene, another related discipline has been born and has made equally, or perhaps, even more groundbreaking achievements
in the same arena; that is the science of (bio)molecular archaeology. This review describes the extreme complications of ancient
DNA analysis and highlights some of the major achievements that have been accomplished in this field. The nature of DNA degradation
and possible solutions to this problem are discussed.
Trade and acquisition of Cannabis drugs are illegal in many countries worldwide; nevertheless, crimes related with these drugs are a major problem for the investigative authorities. With this manuscript, we want to introduce a 15 short tandem repeat (STR) Cannabis marker set that can be amplified in one PCR reaction. This multiplex PCR is specific to Cannabis species and combines highly informative STR markers. The 15 STR multiplex is easy to use and was validated according to common laboratory quality standards. Due to the fact that a lot of Cannabis plants are cultivated by clonal propagation and may show aneuploidy, polyploidy or multiple gene loci, it is not possible to apply biostatistics that follow the Hardy-Weinberg law. However, this multiplex will help the police to trace back trade routes of drug syndicates or dealers and it can help to link Cannabis plants to a crime scene.
When rope is found at a crime scene, the type of fiber is currently identified through its microscopic characteristics. However, these characteristics may not always unambiguously distinguish some types of rope from others. If rope samples contain cells from the plants of origin, then DNA analysis may prove to be a better way to identify the type of rope obtained from a crime scene. The objective of this project was to develop techniques of DNA analysis that can be used to differentiate between ropes made from Cannabis sativa L. (hemp), Agave sisalana Perrine (sisal), Musa textilis Née (abaca, "Manila hemp"), Linum usitatissimum L. (flax), and Corchorus olitorus L. (jute). The procedures included extracting the DNA from the rope, performing polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using the extracted DNA as a template, and analyzing the DNA products. A primer pair for PCR, chosen from within a chloroplast gene for the large subunit of ribulose bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase, was designed to be specific for plant DNA and complementary to the genes from all five plants. The resulting PCR fragments were approximately 771 base pairs long. The PCR fragments, distinguished through base sequence analysis or restriction enzyme analysis, could be used to identify the five different rope types. The procedure provides a useful addition to visual methods of comparing rope samples.
The writing sheets made with strips from the stem (caulis) of papyri (Cyperus papyrus) are one of the most ingenious products of ancient technology. We extracted DNA from samples of modern papyri varying in age from 0-100 years BP and from ancient specimens from Egypt, with an age-span from 1,300-3,200 years BP. The copy number of the plant chloroplast DNA in the sheets was determined using a competitive PCR system designed on the basis of a short (90 bp) tract of the chloroplast's ribulose bisphosphate carboxylase large subunit (rbcL) gene sequence. The results allowed us to establish that the DNA half-life in papyri is about 19-24 years. This means that the last DNA fragments will vanish within no more than 532-672 years from the sheets being manufactured. In a parallel investigation, we checked the archaeological specimens for the presence of residual DNA and determined the extent of racemization of aspartic (Asp) acid in both modern and ancient specimens, as a previous report (Poinar et al. [1996], Science 272:864-866) showed that racemization of aspartic acid and DNA decay are linked. The results confirmed the complete loss of authentic DNA, even in the less ancient (8th century AD) papyri. On the other hand, when the regression for Asp racemization rates in papyri was compared with that for human and animal remains from Egyptian archaeological sites, it proved, quite surprisingly, that the regressions are virtually identical. Our study provides an indirect argument against the reliability of claims about the recovery of authentic DNA from Egyptian mummies and bone remains.
Progress towards transformation of fibre hemp
- L Mackinnon
- G Mcdougall
- N Aziz
- S Millam
MacKinnon, L., McDougall, G., Aziz, N., Millam, S., Progress towards transformation of
fibre hemp, In: Annual Report of the Scottish Crop Research Institute, 2000/2001, pp.
84-86.
Futura) France (Epsilon 68) France (Fedora 17) Ukraine (USO-31)
- France
France (Futura)
France (Epsilon 68)
France (Fedora 17)
Ukraine (USO-31)