Ancient DNA
By Daniel T. Ksepka
Techniques for recovering genetic material from fossils and other prehistoric samples have led to insights about life millions of years ago, from microbes to mastodons.
This Article From Issue
January-February 2024
Volume 112, Number 1
Page 30
In 2022 a team of genetics experts and Earth scientists led by Kurt Kjær of the University of Copenhagen reconstructed a Pleistocene ecosystem from DNA extracted from permafrost. This monumental and groundbreaking feat revealed an astonishing array of plants and animals, some that had lived on land and others in the water. The team collected permafrost samples from the Kap København Formation, a Pleistocene unit in northern Greenland where sediments from a boreal ecosystem, buried and frozen into permafrost, had lain undisturbed for two million years. Using ancient DNA older than any previously recovered—the former record came from an approximately 1.6-million-year-old mammoth tooth—this effort challenged the upper time limits of DNA viability.
QUICK TAKE
- With contemporary genetic technology, paleontologists can now extract DNA from bones, skins, and eggshells of organisms that lived millions of years ago.
- We have entered an era in which an entire Pleistocene ecosystem can be reconstructed from analyzing the DNA preserved in long-frozen soil.
- New genetic revelations about extinct organisms—such as dire wolves, elephant birds, and mammoths—are bringing a sea change to paleontology.
American Scientist Comments and Discussion
To discuss our articles or comment on them, please share them and tag American Scientist on social media platforms. Here are links to our profiles on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
If we re-share your post, we will moderate comments/discussion following our comments policy.