Skip to main content
European Commission logo print header

Restoration of the past genetic heritage

Objetivo

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.

Convocatoria de propuestas

FP6-2002-MOBILITY-5
Consulte otros proyectos de esta convocatoria

Coordinador

UNIVERSITY OF YORK
Aportación de la UE
Sin datos
Dirección
Heslington
YORK
Reino Unido

Ver en el mapa

Coste total
Sin datos