Ancient DNA Extracted From 45,000 Year Old Extinct Giant Roos
Thursday, January 15, 2015 - 11:40
in Paleontology & Archaeology
Scientists have extracted DNA from mysterious marsupial megafauna that roamed Australia over 40,000 years ago - Australia's extinct giant kangaroos.The team extracted DNA sequences from two species: a giant short-faced kangaroo (Simosthenurus occidentalis) and a giant wallaby (Protemnodon anak). These specimens died around 45,000 years ago and their remains were discovered in a cold and dry cave in Tasmania.Relatively good preservation conditions in the cave allowed enough short pieces of DNA to survive so researchers could reconstruct partial "mitochondrial genomes" - genetic material transmitted from mother to offspring and widely used to infer evolutionary relationships. read more