The Impact of Ancient DNA Discovered in Siberia
For many decades, there has been an overwhelming curiosity about what life was like before humans ruled the earth - back when life on land, off land, and even the very land itself was very different than it is today. Pieces of this puzzle have been discovered all over the world, ranging from perfectly preserved skeletons at the bottom of bodies of water to fragments discovered in vast deserts. Due to the conditions of the ancient finds, there is only so much that can be deciphered about the past, which leads to the creations of various theories of what life was like in different areas and why and when it changed. However, in at least one stretch of land, there is a lot that can be told thanks to one of the best finds in recent history: some of the oldest DNA ever recovered.
This amazing find was first reported in April of 2003, when it was told that animal and plant DNA was found in the permafrost of northeastern Siberia (Thomas 2003). The permafrost was located between the Lena and Kolyma rivers of former western Beringia and was drilled out under scrupulous conditions – using extreme care not to let any of the precious samples become contaminated. In fact, strains of specialized bacteria were used to ward off any possible contamination (Willerslev 2003). The event was led by Eske Willerslev of the University of Copenhagen in Denmark (Thomas 2003), who’s international team looked towards drilling for sediment deposits in the layered ice when other areas containing possible ancient DNA samples provided only rare samples that were highly susceptible to extraction and examination difficulties (Willerslev 2003). Fortunately, luck was with the international t...
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...nd, oddly enough, the frozen digestive remains of prehistoric animals, important questions have been answered and fierce debates have been settled. This just goes to show that you never know where the next big ancient discovery is going to come from and gives hope for others to keep searching.
Works Cited
Thomas, Abbie. “Ancient Dung Reveals a Picture of the Past.” News in Science
18 April 2003. 24 March 2004 <http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/stories/
s833847.htm>.
Willerslev, Eske, Anders J. Hansen, Jonas Binladen, Tina B. Brand, M. Thomas P.
Gilbert, Beth Shapiro, Michael Bunce, Carsten Wiuf, David A. Gilichinsky,
and Alan Cooper. “Diverse Plant and Animal Genetic Records from Holocene
and Pleistocene Sediments.” Science Magazine 17 April 2003. 25 March 2004
<http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/300/5620/791>.
Paabo’s team discovered an mtDNA sequence from a finger bone they found from around 40,000 years ago, as carbon dating is one of the most commonly used methods of determining a fossil’s age. (Hammer, 70). Also, Neanderthal mtDNA is differs severely from modern human mtDNA. For example, Microcephalin is a gene for brain size during the development of the organism.
I was very intrigued by the findings of the Australopithecines. The idea that Lucy, the skeleton found in Hadar, Africa, was closely related to the human species was amazing.
-New Evidence Puts Man in North America 50,000 Years Ago. Sciencedaily. 2004. Retrieved from http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2004/11/041118104010.htm
As archeological discoveries of bone fragments and fossils continue to support the existence of homo-sapiens
Grens, Kerry. "Lost Colony DNA." Scientist 26.1 (2012): 16. MasterFILE Complete. Web. 23 Oct. 2013.
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