Ancient DNA Unearthed from Siberian Mammoth Tooth

Scientists have extracted DNA from a 1.2-million-year-old mammoth tooth found in Siberian permafrost, making it the oldest DNA ever recovered at the time. The genetic material comes from three mammoths, two of which predate the woolly mammoth and one representing an early woolly mammoth. The study revealed a new genetic lineage called the Krestovka mammoth and suggests that the Columbian mammoth was a hybrid of this lineage and the woolly mammoth. The DNA was highly degraded, but researchers used reference genomes to piece together the puzzle. The findings open the possibility of recovering even older DNA and shed light on both mammoth evolution and potential future DNA recovery from ancient human remains.