title: Detection of bone glue treatment as a major source of contamination in ancient DNA analyses.
abstract: Paleogenetic investigations of ancient DNA extracted from fossil material is for many reasons susceptible to falsification by the presence of more recent contamination from several sources. Gelatine-based bone glue that has been used extensively for nearly two centuries by curators to preserve hard tissues contributes nonauthentic DNA to paleontological material. This fact has been frequently neglected and is barely mentioned in the literature. Now paleogeneticists, curators, and conservators are faced with the problem that treatment of samples with adhesives and consolidants for conservatory purposes has seldom been recorded. Here, we show that racemization of amino acids, and in particular serine, is an excellent indicator for the treatment of paleontological samples with glue.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Organic Chemistry, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Graeme J
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Nicholson
authors.forename: Jürgen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Tomiuk
authors.forename: Alfred
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Czarnetzki
authors.forename: Lutz
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bachmann
authors.forename: Carsten M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Pusch
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D016477:Artifacts; D001843:Bone Cements / Q000737:chemistry*; D001842:Bone and Bones; D004247:DNA / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D005580:Fossils; D006801:Humans; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012694:Serine; D013048:Specimen Handling
chemical_list: D001843:Bone Cements; D012694:Serine; D004247:DNA