Validation of a Non-Destructive DNA Extraction Protocol for Ancient DNA Analyses

Summary

The destructive nature of traditional DNA extraction techniques presents one of the primary obstacles to accessing genetic information from museum and archaeological collections. Here we assess a recently published "non-destructive" DNA extraction protocol by Bolnick and colleagues in terms of the amount and quality of DNA extracted from a set of samples of even greater antiquity than those tested in the original analysis. DNA was successfully extracted from archaic period samples from the Eva site in Tennessee. Both quantity and quality of DNA extracted were high enough to obtain mitochondrial sequence data using traditional (Sanger) sequencing. Two samples were successfully amplified using a whole mitochondrial genome amplification kit and underwent next generation sequencing. We also show that the method is indeed "non-destructive." Dental metrics and weights taken before and after extraction indicate no significant change in the teeth due to the extraction process. Thus, the use of this protocol could not only expand the range of samples available for DNA analysis, but also the amount of genetic information obtained from the analysis.

SAA 2015 abstracts made available in tDAR courtesy of the Society for American Archaeology and Center for Digital Antiquity Collaborative Program to improve digital data in archaeology. If you are the author of this presentation you may upload your paper, poster, presentation, or associated data (up to 3 files/30MB) for free. Please visit http://www.tdar.org/SAA2015 for instructions and more information.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage