Towards predicting the geographical origin of ancient samples with metagenomic data.

ABSTRACT: Reconstructing the history-such as the place of birth and death-of an individual sample is a fundamental goal in ancient DNA (aDNA) studies. However, knowing the place of death can be particularly challenging when samples come from museum collections with incomplete or erroneous archives. While analyses of human DNA and isotope data can inform us about the ancestry of an individual and provide clues about where the person lived, they cannot specifically trace the place of death. Moreover, while ancient human DNA can be retrieved, a large fraction of the sequenced molecules in ancient DNA studies derive from exogenous DNA. This DNA-which is usually discarded in aDNA analyses-is constituted mostly by microbial DNA from soil-dwelling microorganisms that have colonized the buried remains post-

SUBMITTER: Bozzi D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11411106 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature