Korean J Phys Anthropol.  2008 Jun;21(2):91-103.

Establishment of PCR Reaction Condition for Highly Successful Ancient DNA PCR

• Kim KY
• Woo JY
• Kim K

Abstract

The ancient bone DNA analysis essentially requires PCR amplification of the targeting genes of study due to the limitation of the ancient bone sample and DNA amounts. In contrast to the fresh living human DNA, it is common to face failing in amplifying the poorly preserved ancient DNA after death. Therefore, the optimized PCR methods appropriate for ancient DNA are required. However, there is no report to date that a systemic investigation of enhanced PCR amplification methods suitable for ancient samples has been conducted Approximately 500~3,300-year-old Korean and Mongolian ancient bones that are resistant to PCR were selected and an extensive number of PCR conditions were systematically investigated for the comparison of PCR success rates. For the PCR analysis, a mitochondrial DNA fragment as a multicopy DNA and a M175 Y chromosome biallelic marker DNA fragment as a single copy DNA that is the marker of the prevalent Y haplogroup (haplogroup O) in Korea were targeted. The identity of the amplified products were confirmed by DNA sequencing. Through this study, we established the optimized PCR conditions for the highly successful amplification of ancient bone DNAs. This estabilished method allowed for the successful amplification of mitochondrial DNAs from all the ancient bone samples tested and the amplification by 50% success rates in the amplification of M175 Y chromosome biallelic marker DNA but with the highest success rates. These results demonstrate that the optimized PCR condition will be useful for the promising ancient DNA analysis in the fields of molecular genetic anthropological studies.

Keyword

Ancient human bone; DNA; PCR; Mitochondria; Y chromosome biallelic marker

MeSH Terms

Coat Protein Complex I
DNA
DNA, Mitochondrial
Humans
Korea
Mitochondria
Molecular Biology
Polymerase Chain Reaction
Sequence Analysis, DNA
Y Chromosome
Coat Protein Complex I
DNA
DNA, Mitochondrial