Evidence of authentic DNA from Danish Viking Age skeletons untouched by humans for 1,000 years.

<h4>Background</h4>Given the relative abundance of modern human DNA and the inherent impossibility for incontestable proof of authenticity, results obtained on ancient human DNA have often been questioned. The widely accepted rules regarding ancient DNA work mainly affect laboratory proc...

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Autores principales:	Linea Melchior, Toomas Kivisild, Niels Lynnerup, Jørgen Dissing
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2008
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/535208054bc94f2bb0b4129406cea2e7
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:535208054bc94f2bb0b4129406cea2e72021-11-25T06:12:15ZEvidence of authentic DNA from Danish Viking Age skeletons untouched by humans for 1,000 years.1932-620310.1371/journal.pone.0002214https://doaj.org/article/535208054bc94f2bb0b4129406cea2e72008-05-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmid/18509537/pdf/?tool=EBIhttps://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203<h4>Background</h4>Given the relative abundance of modern human DNA and the inherent impossibility for incontestable proof of authenticity, results obtained on ancient human DNA have often been questioned. The widely accepted rules regarding ancient DNA work mainly affect laboratory procedures, however, pre-laboratory contamination occurring during excavation and archaeological-/anthropological handling of human remains as well as rapid degradation of authentic DNA after excavation are major obstacles.<h4>Methodology/principal findings</h4>We avoided some of these obstacles by analyzing DNA from ten Viking Age subjects that at the time of sampling were untouched by humans for 1,000 years. We removed teeth from the subjects prior to handling by archaeologists and anthropologists using protective equipment. An additional tooth was removed after standard archaeological and anthropological handling. All pre-PCR work was carried out in a "clean- laboratory" dedicated solely to ancient DNA work. Mitochondrial DNA was extracted and overlapping fragments spanning the HVR-1 region as well as diagnostic sites in the coding region were PCR amplified, cloned and sequenced. Consistent results were obtained with the "unhandled" teeth and there was no indication of contamination, while the latter was the case with half of the "handled" teeth. The results allowed the unequivocal assignment of a specific haplotype to each of the subjects, all haplotypes being compatible in their character states with a phylogenetic tree drawn from present day European populations. Several of the haplotypes are either infrequent or have not been observed in modern Scandinavians. The observation of haplogroup I in the present study (<2% in modern Scandinavians) supports our previous findings of a pronounced frequency of this haplogroup in Viking and Iron Age Danes.<h4>Conclusion</h4>The present work provides further evidence that retrieval of ancient human DNA is a possible task provided adequate precautions are taken and well-considered sampling is applied.Linea MelchiorToomas KivisildNiels LynnerupJørgen DissingPublic Library of Science (PLoS)articleMedicineRScienceQENPLoS ONE, Vol 3, Iss 5, p e2214 (2008)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Linea Melchior Toomas Kivisild Niels Lynnerup Jørgen Dissing Evidence of authentic DNA from Danish Viking Age skeletons untouched by humans for 1,000 years.
description	<h4>Background</h4>Given the relative abundance of modern human DNA and the inherent impossibility for incontestable proof of authenticity, results obtained on ancient human DNA have often been questioned. The widely accepted rules regarding ancient DNA work mainly affect laboratory procedures, however, pre-laboratory contamination occurring during excavation and archaeological-/anthropological handling of human remains as well as rapid degradation of authentic DNA after excavation are major obstacles.<h4>Methodology/principal findings</h4>We avoided some of these obstacles by analyzing DNA from ten Viking Age subjects that at the time of sampling were untouched by humans for 1,000 years. We removed teeth from the subjects prior to handling by archaeologists and anthropologists using protective equipment. An additional tooth was removed after standard archaeological and anthropological handling. All pre-PCR work was carried out in a "clean- laboratory" dedicated solely to ancient DNA work. Mitochondrial DNA was extracted and overlapping fragments spanning the HVR-1 region as well as diagnostic sites in the coding region were PCR amplified, cloned and sequenced. Consistent results were obtained with the "unhandled" teeth and there was no indication of contamination, while the latter was the case with half of the "handled" teeth. The results allowed the unequivocal assignment of a specific haplotype to each of the subjects, all haplotypes being compatible in their character states with a phylogenetic tree drawn from present day European populations. Several of the haplotypes are either infrequent or have not been observed in modern Scandinavians. The observation of haplogroup I in the present study (<2% in modern Scandinavians) supports our previous findings of a pronounced frequency of this haplogroup in Viking and Iron Age Danes.<h4>Conclusion</h4>The present work provides further evidence that retrieval of ancient human DNA is a possible task provided adequate precautions are taken and well-considered sampling is applied.
format	article
author	Linea Melchior Toomas Kivisild Niels Lynnerup Jørgen Dissing
author_facet	Linea Melchior Toomas Kivisild Niels Lynnerup Jørgen Dissing
author_sort	Linea Melchior
title	Evidence of authentic DNA from Danish Viking Age skeletons untouched by humans for 1,000 years.
title_short	Evidence of authentic DNA from Danish Viking Age skeletons untouched by humans for 1,000 years.
title_full	Evidence of authentic DNA from Danish Viking Age skeletons untouched by humans for 1,000 years.
title_fullStr	Evidence of authentic DNA from Danish Viking Age skeletons untouched by humans for 1,000 years.
title_full_unstemmed	Evidence of authentic DNA from Danish Viking Age skeletons untouched by humans for 1,000 years.
title_sort	evidence of authentic dna from danish viking age skeletons untouched by humans for 1,000 years.
publisher	Public Library of Science (PLoS)
publishDate	2008
url	https://doaj.org/article/535208054bc94f2bb0b4129406cea2e7
work_keys_str_mv	AT lineamelchior evidenceofauthenticdnafromdanishvikingageskeletonsuntouchedbyhumansfor1000years AT toomaskivisild evidenceofauthenticdnafromdanishvikingageskeletonsuntouchedbyhumansfor1000years AT nielslynnerup evidenceofauthenticdnafromdanishvikingageskeletonsuntouchedbyhumansfor1000years AT jørgendissing evidenceofauthenticdnafromdanishvikingageskeletonsuntouchedbyhumansfor1000years
_version_	1718414039614226432

Evidence of authentic DNA from Danish Viking Age skeletons untouched by humans for 1,000 years.

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