Mammoth gene sequence read from bone
MRC scientists have used an ancient woolly mammoth’s bone fragment to crack the DNA code of its mitochondria - the biological power stations in cells, which generate energy. This has enabled them to establish the evolutionary link between mammoths and their present day elephant relatives. It is also the first time that a complete mitochondrial sequence has been read from bone specimens of this age – the methods are likely to be of widespread use in analysing other DNA samples.
Nature 2006; 439: 724-727
Advances 2005/06