Preservation of ancient DNA in thermally damaged archaeological bone

TY - JOUR

T1 - Preservation of ancient DNA in thermally damaged archaeological bone

AU - Ottoni, Claudio

AU - Koon, Hannah E C

AU - Collins, Matthew J.

AU - Penkman, Kirsty E H

AU - Rickards, Olga

AU - Craig, Oliver E.

PY - 2009/2/1

Y1 - 2009/2/1

N2 - Evolutionary biologists are increasingly relying on ancient DNA from archaeological animal bones to study processes such as domestication and population dispersals. As many animal bones found on archaeological sites are likely to have been cooked, the potential for DNA preservation must be carefully considered to maximise the chance of amplification success. Here, we assess the preservation of mitochondrial DNA in a medieval cattle bone assemblage from Coppergate, York, UK. These bones have variable degrees of thermal alterations to bone collagen fibrils, indicative of cooking. Our results show that DNA preservation is not reliant on the presence of intact collagen fibrils. In fact, a greater number of template molecules could be extracted from bones with damaged collagen. We conclude that moderate heating of bone may enhance the retention of DNA fragments. Our results also indicate that ancient DNA preservation is highly variable, even within a relatively recent assemblage from contexts conducive to organic preservation, and that diagenetic parameters based on protein diagenesis are not always useful for predicting ancient DNA survival.

AB - Evolutionary biologists are increasingly relying on ancient DNA from archaeological animal bones to study processes such as domestication and population dispersals. As many animal bones found on archaeological sites are likely to have been cooked, the potential for DNA preservation must be carefully considered to maximise the chance of amplification success. Here, we assess the preservation of mitochondrial DNA in a medieval cattle bone assemblage from Coppergate, York, UK. These bones have variable degrees of thermal alterations to bone collagen fibrils, indicative of cooking. Our results show that DNA preservation is not reliant on the presence of intact collagen fibrils. In fact, a greater number of template molecules could be extracted from bones with damaged collagen. We conclude that moderate heating of bone may enhance the retention of DNA fragments. Our results also indicate that ancient DNA preservation is highly variable, even within a relatively recent assemblage from contexts conducive to organic preservation, and that diagenetic parameters based on protein diagenesis are not always useful for predicting ancient DNA survival.

KW - Ancient DNA

KW - Bone diagenesis

KW - Collagen

KW - Cooking

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=58249124358&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1007/s00114-008-0478-5

DO - 10.1007/s00114-008-0478-5

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 19043689

AN - SCOPUS:58249124358

SN - 0028-1042

VL - 96

SP - 267

EP - 278

JO - Naturwissenschaften

JF - Naturwissenschaften

IS - 2

ER -