Two million year old DNA samples discovered, lodged in ancient sediment
- Reference: 1670502611
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2022/12/08/oldest_dna_samples_discovered/
- Source link:
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Ancient Kap Kobenhavn formation drawing Image Credit: Beth Zaiken
The tiny fragments of DNA molecules, preserved in clay and quartz, are estimated to date back two million years, making them the oldest specimens discovered yet. The record was [2]previously held by a DNA sample taken from the frozen molar of a million-year-old woolly mammoth lodged in permafrost in Eastern Siberia.
Complete sets of DNA allow scientists to piece together an organism's genome – used to characterize and identify different species. However, when organisms die and decompose, their strands of DNA erode and break apart over time. Specific environmental conditions like extreme cold can sometimes slow that process and preserve some DNA.
The team of researchers led by the University of Copenhagen had to use statistical algorithms to recover an estimated 41 different samples from the broken, jumbled molecules. They identified various plants, animals, and microorganisms that once supported a rich ecosystem in Northern Greenland during the Ice Age millions of years ago.
The [3]samples show the Kap København Formation – now an arid patch of polar desert – used to harbor poplar, birch, and thuja trees surrounded by various shrubs and herbs. Hare, mastodons – the shorter and stockier distant relatives of mammoths – reindeers, rodents, and geese roamed free on land, whilst green algae and horseshoe crabs lived in water.
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"We believe a combination of environmental factors helped preserve the DNA. First, the fact it was frozen throughout the two million years; second, the type of minerals in the sediments also seemed to favor this," Mikkel Pedersen, co-author of the study and an assistant professor at the University of Copenhagen's GeoGenetics unit, told The Register .
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Finding such old specimens allows scientists to study how life and the climate on Earth evolved over time. "There were certainly organisms that were a surprise – perhaps mostly the mastodon which has never been found this far north and were not expected to be in Greenland two million years ago," Pedersen added.
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[10]Nearly all protein structures known to science predicted by AlphaFold AI
The tiny bits and pieces of DNA were lodged in a near 100-meter-thick deposit of sediment that formed at the mouth of a fjord in the Arctic Ocean. The team managed to identify the different plants and animals by comparing the fragments with genomes of known species. Work continues to characterize the ancient bacteria and fungi in the sample.
The scientists believe their discoveries could shed light on climate change. "The Kap København ecosystem, which has no present-day equivalent, existed at considerably higher temperatures than we have today – and because, on the face of it, the climate seems to have been similar to the climate we expect on our planet in the future due to global warming," Pedersen [11]explained in a statement.
Kurt Kjær, first author of the paper and a professor also working in the University of Copenhagen's GeoGenetics section, continued: "It is possible that genetic engineering could mimic the strategy developed by plants and trees two million years ago to survive in a climate characterized by rising temperatures and prevent the extinction of some species, plants and trees. This is one of the reasons this scientific advance is so significant because it could reveal how to attempt to counteract the devastating impact of global warming."
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He is also interested in trying to find ancient DNA samples in other types of environments – like the warm, humid weather in Africa. "If we can begin to explore ancient DNA in clay grains from Africa, we may be able to gather ground-breaking information about the origin of many different species – perhaps even new knowledge about the first humans and their ancestors. The possibilities are endless." ®
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[1] https://regmedia.co.uk/2022/12/07/ancient_kap_kobenhavn_formation_drawing.jpg
[2] https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-03224-9
[3] https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-05453-y
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2Y5IYL4PmE@Hu0hkvQBx@WQAAANU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Y5IYL4PmE@Hu0hkvQBx@WQAAANU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33Y5IYL4PmE@Hu0hkvQBx@WQAAANU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2022/11/16/ancient_dinosaur_tracks_analysed_using/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2022/09/01/astronauts_blood_space_health/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2022/08/25/ai_algorithms_dna/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2022/07/28/deepmind_alphafold_protein_folding/
[11] https://www.cam.ac.uk/stories/a-new-chapter-in-the-history-of-evolution
[12] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Y5IYL4PmE@Hu0hkvQBx@WQAAANU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[13] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: Crossover
I'm looking forward to them finding a lost iPhone buried under a Mammoth fossil.
It's also cool from the dreaded Global Warming perspective, ie this is evidence that it was clearly warmer then that now, despite it being during the depths of the Ice Age. But that's why the real science gets fascinating, ie why? But that involves a lot of interconnected processes, like alteratiions in ocean and air circulation patterns due to sea level declines, terrain alterations, salinity variations etc etc. Curious if comparisons between Siberian and Alaskan Mammoth remains and flora will give clues about population and genetic drift for both the Mammoths, and the seeds they may have carried with them.
Your Inner Fish has evolved
If you find this interesting and want to read and learn a lot more about the complex history of everything then read "Some Assembly Required" by Neil Shubin which is a fascinating documentation of the research and effects of our creation.
It's the Ice Age/Jurassic Park crossover we've been waiting for
Oh no it's not -- that's pure clickbait.
They found some fragments that can be related to parts of existing complete DNA (rather in the same way that timber samples can be tree ring dated), allowing the source species of the fragments to be identified. No more than that. It's impressive and a valuable contribution to research in the field, but to represent it as "Jurassic Park" is grossly misleading (even supposing JP could actually work, which is most unlikely). I'd love to be party to the researchers' response to this interpretation of their findings.
Re: It's the Ice Age/Jurassic Park crossover we've been waiting for
Obviously looking for further Grants... So take anything said with a grain of something...
Re: It's the Ice Age/Jurassic Park crossover we've been waiting for
Besides, "Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs".
Just sayin'.
Re: It's the Ice Age/Jurassic Park crossover we've been waiting for
I'd love to be party to the researchers' response to this interpretation of their findings.
I think it's just a sad reflection on the state of research funding. They've advanced our knowledge already, which is what science is supposed to do. We have data we didn't have before. Analysing and interpreting it will require more funding. That often means playing politics and following the money. Global Warming is the hot topic, so put out a supportive press release and you'll maybe have a better chance of attracting grants or other funding. Put out something that challenges the current consensus, and you'll be ostracised, even by people who are supposed to be your peers.
Which is all rather said, if you believe in the traditional view of science, ie tell me something I didn't know already. I love learning new things. But it also has some fairly open statements, eg-
"This is one of the reasons this scientific advance is so significant because it could reveal how to attempt to counteract the devastating impact of global warming."
Or maybe we don't need to. In the depths of the Ice Age, Mammoths and flora were thriving, just as they were in other parts of the world. Similar discoveries have been made in other areas where there's been glacial retreat where plant remains have been uncovered, dated to various periods in the past. An obvious inferrence is it must have been warmer then than now, or those plants couldn't have grown. Or some unknown process caused ice mass to increase, glaciers to advance, and either change the local climate or just bury the evidence. We fund scientists to answer those questions for us, because by our nature, we're generally inquisitive.
Then there's the awkward 'Little Ice Age'. One camp suggests this was global, another suggests this was local. I think there's arguably more evidence for global. But this may help provide evidence and understanding of how LIA-type effects might be localised. Obviously this one happened a lot longer ago, but the mechanisms and processes should still apply. Or apply to future localised but extreme climate swings. We're fixated on adaption and mitigation to 'Global' warming, but what if we end up with a 200yr, severely cold 'LIA' affecting a large chunk of Europe?
Re: It's the Ice Age/Jurassic Park crossover we've been waiting for
" but what if we end up with a 200yr, severely cold 'LIA' affecting a large chunk of Europe? "
Without ignoring the very evident atmospheric contamination that can be shown to raise temperatures and probably does, it's also worth wondering whether we've possibly reached (or at least are approaching) the peak of an interglacial as well.
Before the ice ages
"during the Ice Age". Surely that ought to be "before the most recent series of ice ages".
'…due to global warming", Pedersen explained'. Some people would say, "due to a return to long-term geophysically normal temperatures".
Crossover
Looking forward to the revival of the Skratasaur.