How ancient bones and teeth are helping scientists piece together prehistory

National World - Other Local Sites

Dr Karola Kirsanow from the Institute of Anthropolgy at Mainz explains how scientists research prehistory using DNA from ancient bones and teeth.

Transcript

00:00 [ Background Sounds ]

00:11 >> Hi, my name is Carla Kersnow, and I work at the Institute of Anthropology and Mines.

00:16 Here at the Institute, we research the prehistory of humans and domestic animals.

00:22 We use DNA from ancient bones and teeth to reconstruct prehistory.

00:27 This ancient DNA is very rare and very fragile, and it has to be analyzed

00:32 in dedicated facilities like the one you see here.

00:36 Let me guide you through it.

00:38 [ Music ]

00:44 I have some very old bones here that we plan to analyze.

00:47 The problem with old bones is that they contain very few ancient DNA molecules,

00:52 and they can become easily overwhelmed by modern DNA contaminants from the environment.

00:57 We follow a very particular procedure to make sure that the samples,

01:01 the rooms, and the people get cleaner with every step.

01:05 [ Music ]

01:31 This is the room where samples are photographed and documented.

01:34 [ Music ]

01:41 We try to select long bones or the roots of teeth for sampling.

01:45 [ Music ]

02:07 After the surface is removed, the bone is subsampled.

02:12 We then put the remaining sample in a UV light box.

02:16 [ Music ]

02:24 We mill and pulverize the bone or tooth sample to make the DNA inside more accessible.

02:31 [ Music ]

02:58 Now we're in the heart of the lab where the DNA is extracted from the sample.

03:03 Nobody is allowed to move around while somebody is working in here.

03:06 We try to avoid producing any turbulence.

03:11 We actually turn off the air circulation while the pipetting is being done.

03:15 [ Music ]

03:24 We extract the fumes after the work is done and the reaction tubes are closed.

03:29 [ Music ]

03:45 As I said before, DNA in bones is preserved in very small quantities.

03:50 Here we set up PCRs, a reaction to amplify the very few remaining molecules and create DNA libraries.

03:57 [ Music ]

04:06 This is the inner sanctum separated by two doors, very clean.

04:10 [ Music ]

04:22 Cleaning is the most important part of working in an ancient DNA laboratory.

04:26 We even have a waterproof UV bulb to irradiate our cleaning water.

04:30 [ Music ]

04:34 We have two rooms dedicated to cleaning our utensils like racks and bottles.

04:40 [ Music ]

05:00 The work goes on even after the researchers leave for the night

05:04 as computer programs continue to analyze the sequence data.

05:08 [ Music ]

05:14 We use highly parallel DNA sequencing methods to read the code of the ancient DNA.

05:20 After the DNA sequencing is complete, the computational work begins

05:24 and it lasts at least as long as the laboratory work.

05:28 Here we translate the ancient DNA code into information about the genetic relationships

05:33 between the prehistoric populations.

05:36 We want to know about the peoples of the past, who they were, where they came from,

05:41 where they migrated to, what diseases they had, and their relationships to the peoples of today.

05:47 [ Music ]

06:13 (upbeat music)

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