Ancient DNA is thirteen years old

The first successful recovery of ancient DNA, from quagga and human mummies inspired significant enough interest to open an entire field of research. Efforts from many research groups, often in a hunt for the oldest sequences, showed that ancient DNA was a poor substrate for the enzymes used in mole...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature biotechnology 1997-09, Vol.15 (9), p.855-858
Main Authors: Audio, Stéphane, Béraud-Colomb, Eliane
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Agriculture
Animals
Archaeology
Bioinformatics
Biological and medical sciences
Biological evolution
Biomedical and Life Sciences
Biomedical Engineering/Biotechnology
Biomedicine
Biotechnology
Communicable Diseases - genetics
Diverse techniques
DNA - chemistry
DNA - genetics
DNA, Bacterial - chemistry
DNA, Bacterial - genetics
DNA, Plant - chemistry
DNA, Plant - genetics
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Genetic Diseases, Inborn - genetics
Genetic engineering
Genetic technics
Genetics of eukaryotes. Biological and molecular evolution
Humans
In vitro gene amplification. Pcr technique
Life Sciences
Methods. Procedures. Technologies
Molecular and cellular biology
Paleontology
Polymerase Chain Reaction
research-review
Templates, Genetic
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Summary:The first successful recovery of ancient DNA, from quagga and human mummies inspired significant enough interest to open an entire field of research. Efforts from many research groups, often in a hunt for the oldest sequences, showed that ancient DNA was a poor substrate for the enzymes used in molecular biology; it is present in tiny amounts, hard to purify, and frequently damaged. These obstacles have been partially overcome by the use of drastic laboratory precautions and by the introduction of polymerase chain reaction and phylogenetic studies. Ancient DNA analysis now finds applications in many research domains.
ISSN:1087-0156
1546-1696
DOI:10.1038/nbt0997-855