Putative ancient microorganisms from amber nuggets

Authors

  • Patricia Veiga-Crespo Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain
  • Lucía Blasco Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain
  • Margarita Poza Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain
  • Tomás G. Villa Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain

Keywords:

Saccharomyces cerevisiae, amber, Miocene, Cretaceous, microfossils, micropaleontology

Abstract

Evolutionary microbiology studies based on the isolation of ancient DNA and/or microbial samples are scarce due to the difficulty of finding well preserved biological specimens. However, amber is a fossil resin with natural preserving properties for microbial cells and DNA. The visualization by transmission electron microscopy of different microorganismlike specimens found in amber nuggets from both the Miocene and the Cretaceous periods was accompanied by studies of ancient DNA obtained from the nuggets. After the design of specific primers based on the present sequences of both genes in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the ancestral AGP2 sequence from the Miocene, as well as the 18S rRNA from the Cretaceous, were amplified. [Int Microbiol 2007; 10(2):117-122]

Author Biographies

Patricia Veiga-Crespo, Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain

Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain

Lucía Blasco, Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain

Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain

Margarita Poza, Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain

Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain

Tomás G. Villa, Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain

Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain

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Published

2010-01-26

Issue

Section

Research Articles