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Million-year-old mammoth genomes shatter record for oldest ancient DNA

Permafrost-preserved teeth, up to 1.6 million years old, identify a new kind of mammoth in Siberia.
  1. Ewen Callaway
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The million-year-old genome is here. Mammoth teeth preserved in eastern Siberian permafrost have produced the oldest ancient DNA on record, pushing the technology close to — but perhaps not past — its limits.

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Nature 590, 537-538 (2021)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-00436-x

Read the related News & Views article: ‘A mammoth step back in genomic time’

References

  1. van der Valk, T. et al. Nature https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-03224-9 (2021).

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