This is a pretty fascinating journey for all those interested in the study of ancient life on Earth. Much of what is described in this program involves a professor and students at the University of Copenhagen, spanning about 15 years and many failures.
Historically most of what we know about the ancient world, both for plants and animals, involves the study of fossils. DNA analysis gives much more data but DNA in the environment is very fragile, temperature and time are the enemies. So it was once thought to be impossible to get meaning DNA results from more than a few thousand years back. They explain why, for example, DNA recovery depicted in the movie "Jurassic Park" can only be total fiction.
One day a student was gazing out the window on a rainy day, he observes a dog take a poop. He visualized what would happen to the poop, and the DNA in it, during the time after it was washed away and perhaps into the soil. Would it survive there? It was that event that sparked the ideas that led to the development of the new field of "Ancient Environmental DNA." And the student became the professor.
Much of the project focuses on an area in Northeast Greenland in what amounts to an Arctic Desert, while soil with many DNA fragments could be obtained it appeared to be total garbage. A new method of analysis had to be invented, using what they called "shotgun sequencing" with the help of immense computing power. Then, after the discoveries of plant and animal species that lived all those millions of years ago, another two years of work to accurately date it using more than one dating method.
The program closes with some real-world applications, using DNA discoveries to engineer plants to be able to survive in the hotter climates that are beginning now and destined to be even hotter in the future.
Really good and interesting NOVA program.
Historically most of what we know about the ancient world, both for plants and animals, involves the study of fossils. DNA analysis gives much more data but DNA in the environment is very fragile, temperature and time are the enemies. So it was once thought to be impossible to get meaning DNA results from more than a few thousand years back. They explain why, for example, DNA recovery depicted in the movie "Jurassic Park" can only be total fiction.
One day a student was gazing out the window on a rainy day, he observes a dog take a poop. He visualized what would happen to the poop, and the DNA in it, during the time after it was washed away and perhaps into the soil. Would it survive there? It was that event that sparked the ideas that led to the development of the new field of "Ancient Environmental DNA." And the student became the professor.
Much of the project focuses on an area in Northeast Greenland in what amounts to an Arctic Desert, while soil with many DNA fragments could be obtained it appeared to be total garbage. A new method of analysis had to be invented, using what they called "shotgun sequencing" with the help of immense computing power. Then, after the discoveries of plant and animal species that lived all those millions of years ago, another two years of work to accurately date it using more than one dating method.
The program closes with some real-world applications, using DNA discoveries to engineer plants to be able to survive in the hotter climates that are beginning now and destined to be even hotter in the future.
Really good and interesting NOVA program.
