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Copenhagen (pte029/18.04.2003/16:00) - Researchers of Copenhagen University http://www.ku.dk have made a record-breaking discovery: they have found the oldest-known DNA. The international team, led by Eske Willerslev http://www.zi.ku.dk/personal/ewillerslev, discovered the DNA in the permafrost of Siberia.
It is hoped that the 400,000 year-old plant-DNA will help with the reconstruction of prehistory. The discovery was published in the magazine Science http://www.sciencemag.org (10.1126/science.1084114). The genetic material is supposed to be three-to-four times older than any other ancient DNA on the planet, say the scientists. "We think that this is the oldest DNA that we know. Other researchers have questioned our belief, but until now nobody has been able to disprove it," explains Thomas Gilbert of the Ancient Biomolecules Centre http://abc.zoo.ox.ac.uk at the University of Oxford.
The analysis of the tested sample showed that the DNA was made up of at least 19 different plant families. DNA-sequences of omnivores such as the mammoth and the musk ox were also discovered.
"The plant DNA that was frozen in sediment is unbelievably old. Taking that into account, it has been very well preserved," BBC quoted Gilbert as saying.
With the discovery of this DNA, questions about the existence of certain plants during the ice age, and when North America was first populated by humans, will soon be answered.
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