Objective The 20th century was the " Century of Information Technology" By common consent the 21s' century is the "a; Century of Biology" and arguably evolutionary genetics is its core technology. However, contemporary DNA sequences provide only indirect evidence of the historical processes that have formed them over long periods of time. So, in a sense, the field of molecular evolution is &pastime trapped' A revolution in our approach to evolutionary genetics has been the advent of research into ancient biomolecules. Within bimolecular science, this is one of the most innovative areas of common endeavour; an emerging European research strength. The intention of the project is to develop methods to:* Identify DNA damage, using GC/MS with select ion monitoring. To date comparatively little is known of the types and extent of DNA damage in fossil remains. We do know that the DNA is cleaved into relatively short fragments and contains hydrolysed cytosine bases resulting in miscoding during the preliminary cycling of PCR.* In vitro repair ancient and degraded DNA, using in-vitro Base Excision Repair (BER). BER is the major enzymatic pathway involved in the excision and subsequent repair of oxidative base damage, deprivation induced aperitif sites, and other single base insults. The outcome of this research will be to enhance the yield and quality of DNA from ancient and non-invasively collected faeces. These (unusual) samples have since proven to be one of the most robust archives of ancient DNA. The techniques developed on these samples, which exhibit remarkable DNA preservation, will then be applied to ancient human, hominid and animal bone samples from European archaeological sites dated at prehistoric and historic epochs. The recovery of ancient genetic information has great potential for the understanding of the process of evolutionary genetics first hand. Fields of science natural sciencesbiological sciencesgeneticsDNAnatural sciencesbiological sciencesbiochemistrybiomoleculesproteinsnatural sciencescomputer and information sciencesdata sciencedata miningnatural scienceschemical sciencesorganic chemistryaminesnatural sciencesbiological sciencesmolecular biologymolecular evolution Keywords BioArc European past populations York amino acid racemization ancient proteins animals base excision repair bioarcha coprolites evolutionary genetics hominids mass spectrometry Programme(s) FP6-MOBILITY - Human resources and Mobility in the specific programme for research, technological development and demonstration "Structuring the European Research Area" under the Sixth Framework Programme 2002-2006 Topic(s) MOBILITY-2.1 - Marie Curie Intra-European Fellowships (EIF) Call for proposal FP6-2002-MOBILITY-5 See other projects for this call Funding Scheme EIF - Marie Curie actions-Intra-European Fellowships Coordinator UNIVERSITY OF YORK EU contribution No data Address Heslington YORK United Kingdom See on map Total cost No data
