The DNS tool allows you to track ancient ancestors

Sheffield University

Scientists at the University of Sheffield, who study ancient DNA, have created a tool that enables them to identify more accurately the ancient Eurasian populations that can be used to test an individual's resemblance to ancient people who once visited the earth.

Currently, an ancient DNA study requires a lot of information to classify a skeleton to the population or find its biogeographical origin.

Now, scientists have defined a new concept, "Ancient Informative Markers (AIMs)", a mutation group that is sufficiently informative to identify and classify ancient populations.

Study chaired by the Department of Animal and Plant Sciences at Sheffield University, Dr. Eran Elhaik, discovered a small aAIM group that can be used to classify skeletons in ancient populations.

Dr. Elhaik said:

"We developed a new method that effectively finds AIMM and has proven to be accurate."

AIM (Ancestry Informative Markers) has a long history of science and has been used by health and forensic experts for the last ten years.

But Dr. Elhaik said that when his team applied traditional AIM search tools to ancient DNA data, they were disappointed with their low accuracy.

"The ancient populations are much more diverse than modern ones," he said. "Their diversity has been reduced over the years following events such as the Neolithic Revolution and Black Death.

"Although we have many more people nowadays, they are all much more like old people. Moreover, the ancient data itself is problematic due to the large amount of DNA degraded."

To overcome these problems, Dr. Elhaik developed a specialized tool that identifies AIM by combining a traditional methodology with a new one that takes into account the mixture.

Genomes consist of hundreds of thousands of markers. (Image: Eisenhans / Adobe Stock)

"Ancient genomes usually consist of hundreds of thousands and sometimes millions of markers. We showed that only 13,000 markers are needed to make an accurate population classification for the ancient genomes, and while the ancient forensic area does not exist, these AIMMs can help us get much closer to the old people. .

He added: "Until now, you could not test people for the ancestors of ancient DNA, because commercial microchips, such as those used for genetic genealogy, do not have many markers related to palaeogenesis – people could not explore their original origins."

"This aAIM statement is like finding the fingerprints of old people. It allows you to check a small number of markers – what can be found in an accessible array – and you can ask what part of your genome is from Roman Britons or Vikings or Chumashu Indians or ancient Israelis, etc.

We can ask any question we want about these ancient people, unless one of these old markers follows. So in this document, the public is offered a field of paleogenesis. "

Researchers said that the results of the study are more accurate to identify and classify ancient people around the world, and that the structure and methods of the study should be applied again when more comprehensive old DNA databases are available.

Top Image: Testing DNA Molecules Source: natali_mis / Adobe Stock

Article & # 39; The DNS tool allows you to track ancient ancestors “Originally posted on Science Daily.

Source: Sheffield University. "The DNS tool allows you to track your ancient ancestors." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, January 14, 2019. < www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/01/190114082850.htm>.