[Ancient DNA speaks]

PMID: 38986104
Source: Med Sci (Paris)
Publication date: 2024-07-10
Year: 2024

Abstract

Many human DNA sequences have been obtained from ancient remains dating back from several millennia. However, these have low coverage and may contain many errors; this has limited their usefulness for many analyses, in particular the search for Identical By Descent (IBD) segments that is very powerful for detection of kinship. A new method, using imputation from database data and sophisticated statistical analysis, proves able to detect IBD segments (and thus parenthood) in low-quality DNA sequences from individuals linked only by sixth degree parenthood, opening a whole new field of investigation using ancient DNA.