Relatively well preserved DNA is present in the crystal aggregates of fossil bones.

ABSTRACT: DNA from fossil human bones could provide invaluable information about population migrations, genetic relations between different groups and the spread of diseases. The use of ancient DNA from bones to study the genetics of past populations is, however, very often compromised by the altered and degraded state of preservation of the extracted material. The universally observed postmortem degradation, together with the real possibility of contamination with modern human DNA, makes the acquisition of reliable data, from humans in particular, very difficult. We demonstrate that relatively well preserved DNA is occluded within clusters of intergrown bone crystals that are resistant to disaggregation by the strong oxidant NaOCl. We obtained reproducible authentic sequences from both modern and a

SUBMITTER: Salamon M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1236542 | biostudies-literature | 2005 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature