Patterns of nucleotide misincorporations during enzymatic amplification and direct large-scale sequencing of ancient DNA.

ABSTRACT: Whereas evolutionary inferences derived from present-day DNA sequences are by necessity indirect, ancient DNA sequences provide a direct view of past genetic variants. However, base lesions that accumulate in DNA over time may cause nucleotide misincorporations when ancient DNA sequences are replicated. By repeated amplifications of mitochondrial DNA sequences from a large number of ancient wolf remains, we show that C/G-to-T/A transitions are the predominant type of such misincorporations. Using a massively parallel sequencing method that allows large numbers of single DNA strands to be sequenced, we show that modifications of C, as well as to a lesser extent of G, residues cause such misincorporations. Experiments where oligonucleotides containing modified bases are used as templates in

SUBMITTER: Stiller M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1564221 | biostudies-literature | 2006 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature