Affiliation:
1. Department of Organismic Biology, Ecology and Evolution, University of California, Los Angeles California 90095-1606;
2. Department of Biological Anthropology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX2 6QS, United Kingdom
Abstract
▪ Abstract The discovery that DNA survives in ancient remains and can be amplified by the polymerase chain reaction has added a direct temporal dimension to evolutionary studies. Initial reports suggested that the time period open to investigation was vast, extending back into the Cretaceous period. However, attempts to replicate of results involving DNA purported to be over a million years old have not succeeded. Theoretical studies suggest that DNA is unlikely to survive intact more than about 100,000 years. However, even over this time period, the evolutionary questions that can be addressed are far reaching and include systematics, paleoecology, the origin of diseases, and evolutionary processes at the population level.
Cited by
74 articles.
订阅此论文施引文献
订阅此论文施引文献,注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献,订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献