Researchers have unearthed tiny fragments of DNA in the Arctic that were left by plants, microbes and animals that lived in a previously unknown ecosystem in Greenland.
Scientists have discovered tiny fragments of 2 million-year-old DNA trapped within frozen layers of Arctic sediment. The ancient genetic material, which is the oldest ever discovered, has provided a glimpse of a previously unknown ecosystem.
The previous oldest DNA sample ever found, which was revealed to the world in 2021, was retrieved from a 1.2 million-year-old mammoth bone in Siberia, researchers wrote in a statement . "A new chapter spanning one million extra years of history has finally been opened and for the first time we can look directly at the DNA of a past ecosystem that far back in time," study lead author Eske Willerslev , an evolutionary ecologist at the University of Cambridge in the U.K., said in the statement.The DNA fragments were incredibly difficult to study.
As well as a variety of animals, the DNA also revealed the presence of several species of trees, bacteria and fungi. Not all of the DNA samples could be matched with known species, suggesting that some could be new to science. However, almost all were identified to at least the correct genus.
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