Authors
A G Briscoe1; A Waeschenbach1; D T Littlewood1; 1 NHM Discussion
Natural history collections serve numerous purposes for a diversity of end users and meta-data associated with collections provides a rich resource for better understanding the evolution and distribution of species through space and time. The advent of molecular systematics provided a new dimension to the use of such collections, particularly evolutionary biology and population genetics. However, museum specimens have proven to be difficult to work with due to DNA damage and degradation, either postmortem or through the processes involved in sample preservation. Advances in sequencing technologies over the last decade have reduced the reliance on PCR-based techniques, as a means for target selection and enrichment prior to sequencing, and has opened up more of the genome for interrogation. Working with key groups of parasites and vectors we have been interested in the extent to which an NGS approach to museum specimens can secure new data. In particular we are interested in utilising mitogenomes and low-level genome skimming approaches to provide insights into past populations, including those of extinct species, in the context of present patterns of diversity and genetic variation. These windows into the past provide opportunities to measure evolutionary processes in response to anthropomorphic and climatic change. Working with mosquitoes, snails, schistosomes, and other helminths, NGS has provided some promising results with small, highly-degraded rare material. 
