https://agnosticweb.com/ An Agnostic's Brief Guide to the Universe en Ancient DNA is being studied from thousands of years ago with the latest techniques:-http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/43069/title/What-s-Old-Is-New-Again/-"Researchers are also beginning to apply their newfound skills in dealing with ancient materials to branch out beyond simply sequencing genomes. In 2012, for example, Willerslev's lab published an analysis of proteins, which are generally longer lived postmortem than genetic material, of 43,000-year-old woolly mammoth bones.16 And last year, Willerslev, Orlando, and colleagues published a genome-wide nucleosome map and survey of cytosine methylation levels in the DNA they pulled from the 4,000-year-old hair shafts of a Paleo-Eskimo, effectively launching the field of ancient epigenetics.17 Also last year, Pääbo's group at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology published the first full DNA methylation maps of the Neanderthal and Denisovan genomes.18 “For the first time we'll be able to address what is the role of epigenomics and epigenetics in evolution,” Willerslev says.-"But just how far back into biological history will ancient DNA researchers be able to reach? Most scientists feel that recovering sequenceable DNA isn't likely in samples more than 1,000 millennia in age. “I would bet all my money that 1 million is the limit,” says Meyer. But some are confident that further improvements to DNA isolation and sequencing techniques could take us even further back. “It would not surprise me if we were able to sequence DNA older than 1 million years given appropriate environmental conditions,” Malhi says. Willerslev agrees, speculating that researchers may eventually be able to sequence DNA collected from samples dating to 2 million years ago. “I wouldn't be surprised at all.'” 

]]> https://agnosticweb.com/index.php?id=18991 https://agnosticweb.com/index.php?id=18991 Thu, 25 Jun 2015 14:02:05 +0000 IntroductionDavid Turell