February
19
/ 2021
Researchers have sequenced the oldest known DNA in the world. Using material from the Early and Middle Pleistocene sub-epochs, the ancient DNA analysis shatters the record for the world’s oldest sequenced DNA. It comes from mammoth remains that were discovered in the Siberian permafrost and proves that under the right conditions ancient DNA can survive more than one million years. But the analysis of that very ancient DNA depends upon researchers having the right technology too. Thankfully, an international team led by researchers at the Centre for Palaeogenetics in Stockholm, Sweden had advanced sequencing technology and bioinformatics available to them. A Nature news report for the new paper says that the researchers pushed current technology almost to its limits to
