Abstract/Résumé

Nucleic Acids, which hold clues to the evolution of various animal and hominid taxa, are comparatively weak molecules from other cellular debris, and thus evolutionary biologists are in essence “time trapped”. Fortunately, DNA and protein fragments do exist in fossil remains beyond what theoretical experimentation do suggest. Sequestering of DNA molecules in humic or Maillard-like complexes likely represents a rich source of DNA molecules from from the past, that have yet to be tapped. These molecules were impossible to acquiredue to the selective nature of Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR).
Recently, however, rapid parallel pyrosequencing techniques, such as those used in Metagenomics-based research, which allow for in theory, the identification of all short nucleotide sequences in a sample in a non-selective approach, has the potential to allow the identification of all nucleic acids in a sample and thus represents the way forward in ancient DNA. In theory this technology will allow the completion of genomes of extinct animals, plants and microbes. I will discuss the benefits and pitfalls of this metagenomic approach to ancient DNA, highlighting our recent efforts underway to sequence the woolly mammoth genome as well as other fossil remains.