A Paleogenomic Perspective on Evolution and Gene Function: New Insights from Ancient DNA

Abstract

Background After three decades of research aimed at recovering DNA from preserved remains, the field of ancient DNA is moving rapidly toward the sequencing and analysis of complete paleogenomes. These data provide a means to better understand evolutionary processes through time, including inference of ancient demography and admixture between lineages, as well as adaptive evolution within populations. Advances Key advances enabling a paleogenomic perspective include improvements in DNA extraction and library preparation, as well as methods to enrich ancient libraries for targeted loci. These methods have made it possible to isolate ancient DNA from a far wider range of preservation environments than has been assumed to be attainable, including extending the temporal reach of ancient DNA back to nearly 1 million years. Outlook Although relatively few paleogenomes have been published to date, their number is rising rapidly, and it is increasingly clear that the range of specimens from which paleogenomes could be produced is much larger than has been assumed previously. As more data become available, including genomic data from living organisms, the capacity to use paleogenomic data to infer evolutionary change through time will continue to expand, particularly with respect to the evolution of populations and the link between genotype and phenotype.