Found: 2 Million Year-Old DNA

Nature Magazine – Ancient DNA recovered from Greenland’s permafrost contains fragments of genetic material from plants, corals, mastodons and other animals. The 2-million-year-old DNA is the oldest sequenced so far — and about twice as old as DNA extracted from a mammoth tooth.

Researchers extracted DNA from sediment samples taken from the Kap København Formation in northern Greenland, where fossils discovered earlier indicated a forest existed 2 million years ago. The mixture of Arctic and temperate species isn’t found on the planet today.

The DNA fragments included 102 traces of plants and animals, such as poplars and pines that no longer grow in Greenland but are found farther south in northern boreal and deciduous forests.

Also found were fragments of DNA from mastodons, hares and geese as well as horseshoe crabs, corals and other marine organisms that suggested the water in the area was warm.

The authenticity of the data in the new study was determined by analyzing patterns of damage, comparing the DNA results with pollen from the same samples and other techniques.