In a brand-new research study released the other day (December 28) in Molecular Biology and Evolution, researchers report a similar discovery in real life, albeit with considerably younger genetic product: human DNA preserved in the glue-like cement affixing lice eggs to the heads of mummies.The cement is a sticky compound head lice make to anchor their eggs to the hair of host animals, making them hard to eliminate. Through DNA sequencing, the group was able to determine the mummies sex, as well as genetic evidence showing that the population the mummies belonged to migrated from west Amazonia– most likely the southern rain forests of present day Venezuela and Colombia– to the Andes in Argentina.The group likewise evaluated mitochondrial DNA from the lice eggs, called nits, to validate the migration pattern seen in the human DNA studies, and found that they too appeared to have stemmed from the Amazon jungles. A human hair with a nit connected to it with cement UNIVERSITY of readingThe lice cement from the mummy heads also protected environmental DNA that belonged to neither human beings nor lice, consisting of traces of a number of strains of germs and Merkel cell polyomavirus, which causes aggressive skin cancer.
In a brand-new research study published the other day (December 28) in Molecular Biology and Evolution, scientists report a similar discovery in real life, albeit with considerably younger hereditary product: human DNA maintained in the glue-like cement affixing lice eggs to the heads of mummies.The cement is a sticky substance head lice make to anchor their eggs to the hair of host animals, making them challenging to remove. Through DNA sequencing, the group was able to determine the mummies sex, as well as genetic evidence suggesting that the population the mummies belonged to migrated from west Amazonia– likely the southern rain forests of present day Venezuela and Colombia– to the Andes in Argentina.The group likewise evaluated mitochondrial DNA from the lice eggs, called nits, to confirm the migration pattern seen in the human DNA studies, and discovered that they too appeared to have stemmed from the Amazon rain forests. A human hair with a nit connected to it with cement UNIVERSITY of readingThe lice cement from the mummy heads likewise preserved environmental DNA that belonged to neither human beings nor lice, consisting of traces of several strains of germs and Merkel cell polyomavirus, which triggers aggressive skin cancer.
