The phrase
"ancient specimens" refers to very old and rare objects, organisms, or things that are considered as examples or representations of the past.
Full definition
In addition, by developing relationships with museums and curators who have
ancient specimen collections, they can stay abreast of what samples are available, which can help them develop novel research questions.
Nevertheless, Wogelius says that he and his co-workers are now approaching numerous museums and other institutions in an attempt to expand their fossil database and also compare the pigment patterns
of ancient specimens with those of living animals in hopes of eventually deciphering the ancient colors.
The DNA fragments
from ancient specimens do not overlap perfectly due to degradation of the DNA code, causing mismatches in base pairs that were originally the same — these are «false mutations».
And sequencing his nuclear genome — the genetic information inherited from both parents — and that of
other ancient specimens could give a more complex picture of the way groups mixed with one another.
The DNA fragments from
ancient specimens do not overlap perfectly due to degradation of the DNA code, causing mismatches in base pairs that were originally the same — these are «false mutations».
Labs that
handle ancient specimens often handle more recent PCR samples as well, but the latter contain inordinately greater amounts of DNA.
By harnessing the power of modern sequencing and analytical techniques, they are working to uncover the genetic secrets hidden in the DNA of
ancient specimens collected during archaeological expeditions or curated in museums.
These journeys are designed with exciting stops
at ancient specimens of architecture, UNESCO World heritage sights, and picturesque locales.
KEEPING CLEAN When
studying ancient specimens, researchers work in ultraclean rooms to avoid contaminating samples with DNA from modern people or the environment.
Now, a team led by Christina Adler, a geneticist at ACAD, has found that standard sampling procedures could be responsible for the failure to get DNA from the hobbit and some
other ancient specimens.
While the experimentalists in the field labor in the lab to coax sequences out
of ancient specimens, Sriram Sankararaman rarely strays far from his computer.
Shorter spines seen on
some ancient specimens could have functioned somewhat like teeth and might have been an early evolutionary step toward tooth development, Briggs proposes.
So «
any ancient specimen that we find in Africa might be as different from us as Neandertals,» Hawks says.
Scientists use a variety of techniques on
the ancient specimens to determine details about lifestyles and diets, as well as information about the geographical distribution of the creatures.
The genome from
this ancient specimen, which has been radiocarbon dated to 35,000 years ago, reveals that the Taimyr wolf represents the most recent common ancestor of modern wolves and dogs.
In the December issue of Geology, the team members report that they isolated a protein called osteocalcin from the bones and recovered the first intact amino acid sequences from
an ancient specimen.
Patterns of population splits and migration events were analyzed using TreeMix (82) and the intersection of SNPs passing quality filters for
the ancient specimens, all modern horses, and the domestic donkey (when included).
Finding complete fossils of dinosaurs and amphibians is a difficult task, with museums and universities spending millions of dollars to reconstruct and acquire
these ancient specimens.
Large trees over 200 years old have remained solidly in the ground, and construction has been conducted around
these ancient specimens with great delicacy and expense.