Megaplex DNA typing can provide a strong indication of the authenticity of ancient DNA amplifications by clearly recognizing any possible type of modern contamination.
Recent experiments revealed the perfect applicability of megaplex typing by autosomal short tandem repeats (STRs) to degraded DNA. The advantages of megaplex approaches lie in reduced amounts of sample material that are necessary and in remarkable time saving. Furthermore, megaplex typing clearly recognizes possible contaminations and thus has a large potential for indicating authenticity in ancient DNA analysis. This is demonstrated by three examples in which various types of contaminations could clearly be identified as such and even traced back to their origin. This would have been impossible using control samples, due to the sporadic nature of these types of contaminations.
Hummel
S
S
Institute of Zoology and Anthropology, University of Göttingen. shummel1@gwdg.de
Bramanti
B
B
Schultes
T
T
Kahle
M
M
Haffner
S
S
Herrmann
B
B
D016477:Artifacts; D016172:DNA Fingerprinting; D005784:Gene Amplification / Q000235:genetics*; D049690:History, Ancient; D006801:Humans; D010164:Paleopathology; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013048:Specimen Handling; D020080:Tandem Repeat Sequences / Q000235:genetics*