Nuclear copies of mitochondrial genes: another problem for ancient DNA

The application of ancient DNA techniques is subject to many problems caused primarily by low quality and by low quantity of DNA. For these reasons most studies employing ancient DNA rely on the characterization of mitochondrial DNA, which is present in many more copies per cell than nuclear DNA and...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Genetica 2010-10, Vol.138 (9-10), p.979-984
Main Authors: den Tex, Robert-Jan, Maldonado, Jesus E, Thorington, Richard, Leonard, Jennifer A
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
aDNA
Animal Genetics and Genomics
Animals
Biologi
Biology
Biomedical and Life Sciences
Cell Nucleus - genetics
DNA Primers
DNA Transposable Elements
DNA, Mitochondrial - genetics
Evolutionary Biology
Gene Amplification
Genes, Mitochondrial
Human Genetics
Life Sciences
Microbial Genetics and Genomics
Mitochondria
Mitochondrial DNA
NATURAL SCIENCES
NATURVETENSKAP
Numt
Original Research
Plant Genetics and Genomics
Sciuridae - genetics
Sundasciurus
Universal primers
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Summary:The application of ancient DNA techniques is subject to many problems caused primarily by low quality and by low quantity of DNA. For these reasons most studies employing ancient DNA rely on the characterization of mitochondrial DNA, which is present in many more copies per cell than nuclear DNA and hence more copies are likely to survive. We used universal and taxon specific mitochondrial primers to amplify DNA from museum specimens, and found many instances where the amplification of nuclear copies of the mitochondrial gene (numts) instead of the targeted mitochondrial fragment had occurred. Furthermore, the likelihood of amplifying numts increased dramatically when universal primers were utilized. Here we suggest that ancient DNA practitioners must consider the possibility that numts can be amplified at higher rates than previously thought. This is another complication for ancient DNA studies, but it also suggests that more extensive inclusion of nuclear markers in ancient DNA studies should be feasible.
ISSN:0016-6707
1573-6857
1573-6857
DOI:10.1007/s10709-010-9481-9