Scientists Recreate Ice Age Beasts’ Genomes, Ancient Humans Next?

Using DNA analysis researchers have been able to create the genomes of both an Ice Age cave bear and a prehistoric horse. Both animals have been dead for approximately 780,000 years. This makes their genomes ten times older than any previously sequenced genomes.The Sunday Times first reported the scientific feat. It was accomplished using state-of-the-art DNA sequencers. The new sequencers are able to analyze tens of thousands of DNA fragments, allowing information about how they fit together in the genome to be revealed.

The team of researchers completing the work on the horse was lead by Ludovic Orlando, a genetics professor at the Natural History Museum of Denmark. Orlando is very hopeful about the new techniques saying, “These techniques mean we can study evolutionary pathways and the relationships between long-extinct creatures and their modern counterparts.”

A plethora of fossils of other creatures from the Ice Age have been found including saber-toothed cats and giant ground sloths. Until now, scientists did not believe that their remains contained enough DNA to create sequences. This recent research can likely shed light on their genomes as well, especially that involving the cave bear. The bears remains were from a warmer climate and more decomposed than that of the horse, but DNA could still be collected.

scientists are now hoping that the genome of Homo erectus, pre-Neanderthal man, could be reconstructed.