700,000-Year-Old Horse Genome Shatters Record for Sequencing of Ancient DNA
My latest story for Wired is up, and I was more excited writing this one than I have been in a long time. Because of advancements in DNA sequencing technology, people decode new genomes every day. Even though the human genome project is still less than 15 years old, people have started to think this isn’t that exciting.
It reminds me of exoplanets … we’ve just gotten a little jaded by what is still an amazing discovery, every time!!
Well, get excited, folks … because a team of scientists from around the world sequenced the oldest genome ever using DNA found in a fossilized horse bone. They shattered the previous record by over 600,000 years and rewrote horse evolution in the process!! We’ll be sequencing million-year-old genomes in no time.
See, DNA degrades over time. That’s why Jurassic Park can never happen (sorry). This horse bone was buried in cold permafrost, and although it was still in pretty rough shape, these DNA wizards were still able to piece it together into an entire genome. That’s like a 21-billion piece jigsaw puzzle!!
Among a laundry list of accomplishments, each of which could have been its own cover story, they sequenced the genome of that little modern horse up there, called a Przewalski’s horse. From origins stretching back 4 million years ago, they are the last truly wild horses left on Earth (the escaped domestics that roam America dont count), and are cute, and worth saving.
Head on over to Wired and check out all the details! There’s so, so much more …
PS - This summer science writing gig in San Francisco is pretty rad, as you can probably tell by my excitement :) I’m busy as hell with “real" journalism stuff like this, but MAN is it cool!