title: Ancient genomics.
abstract: The past decade has witnessed a revolution in ancient DNA (aDNA) research. Although the field's focus was previously limited to mitochondrial DNA and a few nuclear markers, whole genome sequences from the deep past can now be retrieved. This breakthrough is tightly connected to the massive sequence throughput of next generation sequencing platforms and the ability to target short and degraded DNA molecules. Many ancient specimens previously unsuitable for DNA analyses because of extensive degradation can now successfully be used as source materials. Additionally, the analytical power obtained by increasing the number of sequence reads to billions effectively means that contamination issues that have haunted aDNA research for decades, particularly in human studies, can now be efficiently and confidently quantified. At present, whole genomes have been sequenced from ancient anatomically modern humans, archaic hominins, ancient pathogens and megafaunal species. Those have revealed important functional and phenotypic information, as well as unexpected adaptation, migration and admixture patterns. As such, the field of aDNA has entered the new era of genomics and has provided valuable information when testing specific hypotheses related to the past.
authors.affiliation: Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Clio
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Der Sarkissian
authors.affiliation: Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Morten E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Allentoft
authors.affiliation: Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: María C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Ávila-Arcos
authors.affiliation: Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Ross
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Barnett
authors.affiliation: Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Paula F
authors.initials: PF
authors.lastname: Campos
authors.affiliation: Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Enrico
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Cappellini
authors.affiliation: Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Luca
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ermini
authors.affiliation: Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Ruth
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Fernández
authors.affiliation: Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Rute
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: da Fonseca
authors.affiliation: Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Aurélien
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ginolhac
authors.affiliation: Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Anders J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Hansen
authors.affiliation: Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Hákon
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Jónsson
authors.affiliation: Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Thorfinn
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Korneliussen
authors.affiliation: Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Ashot
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Margaryan
authors.affiliation: Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Michael D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Martin
authors.affiliation: Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: J Víctor
authors.initials: JV
authors.lastname: Moreno-Mayar
authors.affiliation: Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Maanasa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Raghavan
authors.affiliation: Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Morten
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rasmussen
authors.affiliation: Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Marcela Sandoval
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Velasco
authors.affiliation: Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Hannes
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Schroeder
authors.affiliation: Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Mikkel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Schubert
authors.affiliation: Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Andaine
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Seguin-Orlando
authors.affiliation: Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Nathan
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Wales
authors.affiliation: Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: M Thomas P
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Gilbert
authors.affiliation: Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Eske
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Willerslev
authors.affiliation: Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark lorlando@snm.ku.dk.
authors.forename: Ludovic
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Orlando
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004247:DNA / Q000235:genetics* / Q000266:history*; D023281:Genomics / Q000379:methods* / Q000639:trends; D059014:High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing / Q000379:methods* / Q000639:trends; D049690:History, Ancient; D006801:Humans
chemical_list: D004247:DNA
keywords: ancient DNA; genomics; next generation sequencing