Sequence Capture From Historical Museum Specimens: Maximizing Value for Population and Phylogenomic Studies

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The application of high-throughput, short-read sequencing to degraded DNA has greatly increased the feasibility of generating genomic data from historical museum specimens. While many published studies report successful sequencing results from historical specimens; in reality, success and quality of sequence data can be highly variable. To examine predictors of sequencing quality, and methodological approaches to improving data accuracy, we generated and analyzed genomic sequence data from 115 historically collected museum specimens up to 180 years old. Data span both population genomic and phylogenomic scales, including historically collected specimens from 34 specimens of four species of Australian rock-wallabies (genus Petrogale) and 92 samples from 79 specimens of Australo-Papuan murine rodents (subfamily Murinae). For historical rodent specimens, where the focus was sampling for phylogenomics, we found that regardless of specimen age, DNA sequence libraries prepared from toe pad or bone subsamples performed significantly better than those taken from the skin (in terms of proportion of reads on target, number of loci captured, and data accuracy). In total, 93% of DNA libraries from toe pad or bone subsamples resulted in reliable data for phylogenetic inference, compared to 63% of skin subsamples. For skin subsamples, proportion of reads on target weakly correlated with collection year. Then using population genomic data from rock-wallaby skins as a test case, we found substantial improvement in final data quality by mapping to a high-quality “closest sister” de novo assembly from fresh tissues, compared to mapping to a sample-specific historical de novo assembly. Choice of mapping approach also affected final estimates of the number of segregating sites and Watterson's θ, both important parameters for population genomic inference. The incorporation of accurate and reliable sequence data from historical specimens has important outcomes for evolutionary studies at both population and phylogenomic scales. By assessing the outcomes of different approaches to specimen subsampling, library preparation and bioinformatic processing, our results provide a framework for increasing sequencing success for irreplaceable historical specimens.