Fossil DNA

Scientists from Northeastern Federal University and South Korea extracted DNA from ancient fossil animals

Olga Savvinova, NEFU Press Service

NEFU researchers, together with South Korean colleagues from the Sooam Biotechnological Research Foundation, Professor Kyu Chan Khvan (Kyu Chan Khvan) and his assistant Jeng Jong Khan (Dzheng Dzhon Khan), have carried out work on the DNA isolation of ancient fossil animals, the NEFU International Center for Collective Use "Molecular Paleontology" reported.

This work is the first stage of a large-scale study of the genomes of ancient animals of Yakutia, says Lena Grigorieva, a leading researcher at the NEFU Center for Collective Use. "At this stage, we have extracted the DNA of mammoth and other ancient fossils – bison, horse, rhinoceros, dog and wolf. The second step of genome decoding will be carried out in the GEROMICS laboratory of Ulsan University by Korean scientists. In the summer, we will organize the third stage – interpretation of the results, mathematical, statistical analyses on the basis of our university," the scientist shared.

It is important that part of the research was carried out in the laboratories of NEFU with the participation of our specialists, they also learned the experience, says the head of the laboratory "Mammoth Museum" of NEFU Semyon Grigoriev. "Previously, we acted only as suppliers of paleontological material to foreign scientists. Now our task is to become one of the leading centers of paleo–DNA research in Asia, working in the same team with Korean and Chinese colleagues," he stressed.

Materials from the collection of the NEFU Mammoth Museum were used to identify the DNA of fossil animals. "Students of the Institute of Natural Sciences actively participated in the work. On this topic, they defended their final qualifying works for the bachelor's degree and continue their master's thesis," Lena Grigorieva noted.

According to the NEFU researcher, every year employees from Sooam participate in summer field expeditions in the North of Yakutia in search of paleontological material. "The head of the SOAAM Foundation, Professor Hwang Woo Seok, regularly comes on summer expeditions. This season, work on the study of mammoth fauna was carried out in Verkhoyansky Ulus and on the Bolshoy Lyakhovsky Islands," she said. In the summer of 2017, the research will continue, the results of interpretation and analysis will be published.

Reference:
The International Center for Collective Use "Molecular Paleontology" of the Research Institute of Applied Ecology of the North of NEFU was opened in March 2015 as part of the agreement on scientific cooperation on the project "Revival of Mammoth and other fossil animals", which was concluded between the Federal University and "Sooam Biotech Research Foundation" on September 23, 2012. 

Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru  22.12.2016