SAT Text Structure and Purpose Question

Svante Pääbo and other researchers studying the history of organisms have long utilized ancient DNA — DNA recovered from ancient organic material that has been preserved under natural conditions. However, J. Mason Heberling and David J. Burke’s 2019 study of the evolutionary trajectory of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi instead relied on historical DNA — genomic data incidentally preserved in specimens that are housed in natural history collections — thus capitalizing on the research potential offered by a vast but hitherto relatively underutilized source of insight into the biological past. Which choice best describes the function of the underlined portion in the text as a whole?