11-10-09
CORVALLIS, Ore. - Penguins that died 44,000 years ago in Antarctica have provided extraordinary frozen DNA samples that challenge the accuracy of
traditional genetic aging measurements, and suggest those approaches have been routinely underestimating the age of many specimens by 200 to 600
percent.
In other words, a biological specimen determined by traditional DNA testing to be 100,000 years old may actually be 200,000 to 600,000 years old,
researchers suggest in a new report in Trends in Genetics, a professional journal.
The findings raise doubts about the accuracy of many evolutionary rates based on conventional types of genetic analysis.
“Some earlier work based on small amounts of DNA indicated this same problem, but now we have more conclusive evidence based on the study of almost
an entire mitochondrial genome,” said Dee Denver, an evolutionary biologist with the Center for Genome Research and Biocomputing at Oregon State
University.
oregonstate.edu...
A group of Adelie penguins strolls across the Antarctic snow.
Seems everytime we think they know what they are doing something comes up to prove them wrong.
