Titel
Ancient DNA diffuses from human bones to cave stones
Autor*in
Mohamed S. Sarhan
Institute for Mummy Studies, Eurac Research
Autor*in
Achim Lehmkuhl
Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde Stuttgart
Autor*in
Rainer Straub
Höhlenforschungsgruppe Ostalb-Kirchheim e.V. (HFGOK)
... show all
Abstract
Recent studies have demonstrated the potential to recover ancient human mitochondrial DNA and nuclear DNA from cave sediments. However, the source of such sedimentary ancient DNA is still under discussion. Here we report the case of a Bronze Age human skeleton, found in a limestone cave, which was covered with layers of calcite stone deposits. By analyzing samples representing bones and stone deposits from this cave, we were able to: i) reconstruct the full human mitochondrial genome from the bones and the stones (same haplotype); ii) determine the sex of the individual; iii) reconstruct six ancient bacterial and archaeal genomes; and finally iv) demonstrate better ancient DNA preservation in the stones than in the bones. Thereby, we demonstrate the direct diffusion of human DNA from bones into the surrounding environment and show the potential to reconstruct ancient microbial genomes from such cave deposits, which represent an additional paleoarcheological archive resource.
Stichwort
Biological sciencesEvolutionary biologyPaleobiologyPaleogeneticsAnthropologyArcheology
Objekt-Typ
Sprache
Englisch [eng]
Persistent identifier
Erschienen in
Titel
iScience
Band
24
Ausgabe
12
ISSN
2589-0042
Erscheinungsdatum
2021
Publication
Elsevier BV
Erscheinungsdatum
2021
Zugänglichkeit
Rechteangabe
© 2021 The Authors

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