Photo on publicdomainpictures.net
Scientists have detected a 2 million-year-old DNA sample at the northernmost point of Greenland.
Scientists conducting research at the northernmost point of Greenland came across the known ancient DNA sample. For example, it is thought to be exactly 2 million years old.
With DNA samples taken from the soil, the researchers said trees, vegetation, and animals were found in Greenland, a barren arctic desert, 2 million years ago.
Cold weather preserved DNA
According to the news of AA, scientists stated that cold weather helps protect DNA fragments and that the findings may have formed and frozen for tens of thousands of years before climate change took place.
Eske Willerslev, a geneticist at Cambridge University, said they compared DNA with different species and tried to find a match.
Saying that DNA also includes traces of animals such as mastodon, geese, rabbits, reindeer, and lemmings, Willerslev said that most mastodon fossils have been seen before in forests in North America.
Willerslev stated that these plants and animals survived the climate change process and this could offer a genetic roadmap for adapting to current global warming.
“I never expected to find a mastodon in northern Greenland,” said Love Dalen, a researcher in evolutionary genetics at Stockholm University. said.
Experts state that it cannot be said with certainty that these species lived in that region with current data, but such DNA studies are valuable in terms of showing “hidden diversity” in ancient habitats.
