ArticlemBio2018
How, When, and Where Relic DNA Affects Microbial Diversity.
Article in mBio, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 92 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
92 citing papers in PubMed.
- Article
- Depth-dependent differences between direct total DNA and an intracellular-DNA-enriched fraction in bulk-soil bacterial and fungal communities of a Lonicera japonica field.BMC microbiology · 2026Article
- Distinct benthic and planktonic microbial communities within the stratified water column of the perennially ice-covered Lake Joyce, Antarctica.FEMS microbiology ecology · 2026Article
- Extracellular DNA Alters Detection of Subtle Bacterial Responses to Soil Rewetting.Microbial ecology · 2026Article
- Seasonal thawing of high Arctic soils triggers selective microbial growth and predation.mSystems · 2026Article
- Molecular Monitoring in Soil Bioremediation: From Genetic Potential to Verified Pathway Operation.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
- The root system of Pappostipa frigida as a hotspot of active bacterial communities in the Andean steppe of the Atacama desert.Environmental microbiome · 2026Article
- Experimental evidence for the absence of a functional gut microbiome in the solitary bee Megachile tosticauda.FEMS microbiology letters · 2026Article
- Porewater microbial community dynamics act as an indicator of northern peatland ecosystem change in response to climate drivers.ISME communications · 2026Article
- Improved characterisation of coral-associated fungal communities using host DNA depletion and a novel ITS primer.ISME communications · 2026Article
- Historical mosquito colonization dynamics are associated with patterns of microbial community assembly in aboveground aquatic habitats.Environmental microbiome · 2025Article
- State-Specific Extraction of Environmental DNA: Spike-and-Recovery Controls to Validate and Optimise Extraction Protocols.Environmental microbiology · 2025Article
- Unravelling Intrinsic and Extrinsic Factors Shaping the Rich Communities on Lizard Skin.Environmental microbiology reports · 2025Article
- Unraveling the tempo and mode of horizontal gene transfer in bacteria.Trends in microbiology · 2025Review
- The performance of different methods in characterizing soil live prokaryotic diversity and abundance is highly variable.iMetaOmics · 2025Article
- Comparison of Two DNA Labeling Dyes Commonly Used to Detect Metabolically Active Bacteria.Microorganisms · 2025Article
- Tracking Different States of Spiked Environmental DNA Using Multiplex Digital PCR Assays.Environmental microbiology · 2025Article
- Advancing Gut Microbiome Research: The Shift from Metagenomics to Multi-Omics and Future Perspectives.Journal of microbiology and biotechnology · 2025Review
- Absolute quantification of the living skin microbiome overcomes relic-DNA bias and reveals specific patterns across volunteers.Microbiome · 2025Article
- Evaluation of the soil microbiome of three raised beaches in the Devon Island Lowland, High Arctic, Canada.PloS one · 2025Article
32 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Extracellular or "relic" DNA is one of the largest pools of nucleic acids in the biosphere. Relic DNA can influence a number of important ecological and evolutionary processes, but it may also affect estimates of microbial abundance and diversity, which has implications for understanding environmental, engineered, and host-associated ecosystems. We developed models capturing the fundamental processes that regulate the size and composition of the relic DNA pools to identify scenarios leading to biased estimates of biodiversity. Our models predict that bias increases with relic DNA pool size, but only when the species abundance distributions (SADs) of relic and intact DNA are distinct from one another. We evaluated our model predictions by quantifying relic DNA and assessing its contribution to bacterial diversity using 16S rRNA gene sequences collected from different ecosystem types, including soil, sediment, water, and the mammalian gut. On average, relic DNA made up 33% of the total bacterial DNA pool but exceeded 80% in some samples. Despite its abundance, relic DNA had a minimal effect on estimates of taxonomic and phylogenetic diversity, even in ecosystems where processes such as the physical protection of relic DNA are common and predicted by our models to generate bias. Our findings are consistent with the expectation that relic DNA from different taxa degrades at a constant and equal rate, suggesting that it may not fundamentally alter estimates of microbial diversity.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.