title: Problems of reproducibility--does geologically ancient DNA survive in amber-preserved insects?
abstract: Apparently ancient DNA has been reported from amber-preserved insects many millions of years old. Rigorous attempts to reproduce these DNA sequences from amber- and copal-preserved bees and flies have failed to detect any authentic ancient insect DNA. Lack of reproducibility suggests that DNA does not survive over millions of years even in amber, the most promising of fossil environments.
authors.affiliation: Department of Palaeontology, Natural History Museum, London, UK.
authors.forename: J J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Austin
authors.forename: A J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Ross
authors.forename: A B
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: R A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Fortey
authors.forename: R H
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Thomas
mesh_terms: D018647:Amber; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D005075:Biological Evolution; D004247:DNA / Q000032:analysis* / Q000235:genetics; D004261:DNA Replication; D005580:Fossils; D017344:Genes, Insect; D007313:Insecta / Q000235:genetics*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data
chemical_list: D018647:Amber; D004247:DNA