Plant and Animal Genome XXII Conference

January 10 - 15, 2014

2289

Degraded DNA and Paleogenomics

Though the first DNA sequences from an extinct organism were first extracted nearly 30 years ago, the revolution in sequencing technology has recently allowed for the retrieval and characterization of ancient organisms dating back more than 50,000 years. This new capability has not only confirmed ancient admixture between humans and Neanderthals, but it has also revealed the existence of an entirely new human lineage, the Denisovans. Access to the complete nuclear genomes of long dead organisms is rewriting our understanding of evolution and taxonomic relationships. In addition, these insights are revealing the time scale over which mutations have appeared that differentiate, for example, wild and domestic plants and animals. This session will attract a number of leading ancient DNA experts to discuss their recent findings across a wide range of biological organisms and outstanding questions.