World's oldest known DNA discovered

www.msnbc.msn.com...

World's oldest known DNA discovered
DNA is from bacteria that may have been descendants of first life forms
By Michael Reilly
Discovery Channel
updated 3:41 p.m. ET, Thurs., Dec . 17, 2009

It won't make Jurassic Park a reality, but scientists have discovered 419 million-year-old DNA intact inside ancient salt deposits.

The genetic material, the oldest ever found, belongs to salt-loving bacteria whose ancestors may have been among the first life forms on Earth.

Scientists have previously recovered similar genetic material from the Michigan Basin, the same region where the latest discovery was made. But the DNA was so similar to that of modern microbes that many scientists believed the samples had been contaminated.

Not so this time around.

More at link.

419 million years old......I feel so young.

Wow that makes my smart parts hurt It's just mind boggling to think we can find this stuff. 419 million years old All though the part about the bacteria being found in the buffalo hide was pretty crazy too.

"DNA is from bacteria that may have been descendants of first life forms"

There's something misleading with this title, since the DNA in my boogers are the descendants of the first life forms. In fact, all DNA on earth is.

reply to post by Drexon


LUCA.

That is what they mean.