McMaster Ancient DNA News

Katherine Eaton and Matthew Emery discuss ancient DNA research, de-extinction, and the possible implications and consequences of some of the work done by the McMaster Ancient DNA Centre.

Here we report the sequencing of 67 new mammoths including non-Woolly specimens representing Columbian (Mammuthus columbi), Jeffersonian (Mammuthus jeffersonii), and pygmy (Mammuthus exilis) mammoths. In disagreement with the paleontological record, our analysis suggests that these mammoth species interbred, and may have resulted in specimens displaying intermediate Woolly-Columbian morphologies.

Congratulations to Matthew Emery and Debi Poinar for their wins in the inaugural McMaster Art of Research Competition which concluded this past week!

Letter from future scientist, Maia Lappano.

A team consisting of researchers at McMaster University and MYcroarray (Ann Arbor) conducted genetic analysis on four Roman individuals on display at the Museum of London.

The McMaster Ancient DNA Centre, Ontario Genomics, and the Ontario Science Centre as pleased to present Mammoths and Mastodons: Titans of the Ice Age, a new exhibit at the Ontario Science Centre!

McMaster Ancient DNA Centre researchers and collaborators study sequences all living Xenarthra (armadillos, sloths, and anteaters); the first major placental mammal clade to be have all living species sequenced.

The 14th-18th century pandemic of Yersinia pestis caused devastating disease outbreaks in Europe for almost 400 years. The reasons for plague’s persistence and abrupt disappearance in Europe are poorly understood, but could have been due to either the presence of now-extinct plague foci in Europe itself, or successive disease introductions from other locations. Here we present five Y. pestis genomes from one of the last European outbreaks of plague, from 1722 in Marseille, France.

McMaster Ancient DNA Centre joins international collaborative effort to determine the cause of Pablo Neruda's death.