Delving into the human molecular past

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: The ability to recover and analyse DNA from dead organisms was realized way back in 1984, with the publication of ancient DNA from an extinct South African equid called quagga.

For the next couple of decades, efforts were made to expand this research to other species and older time periods, especially to trace the genetic history of our own species – Homo sapiens.

Challenges relating to DNA quality and less optimal laboratory and DNA sequencing techniques meant that insights were slow to accrue and could only probe small regions of the genome (sum of the genetic content in our bodies).

All of this changed in 2010 with the back-toback publication of entire genomes of a Neandertha landa 4,000-year-old ancient Greenlandic human. This scientific leap was facilitated by the explosion of new, high-throughput DNA sequencing technologies in the market coupled to improved methods for extracting and analysing DNA from the past.

The last decade has leveraged new technologies to provide incredible understanding of the genetic origins of our species, including our origins in Africa, admixture or ‘introgression’ with other hominins such as Neanderthals and Denisovans, genetic diversification and population movements around the rest of the world, prehistoric and historic genetic mixing between human populations, as well as the evolution of human diseases and adaptations to vario u s bio - physical environments.

Maanasa Raghavan, who will be one of the speakers, has graduated from the University of Copenhagen, Denmark with a PhD in Paleogenomics (ancient DNA).

Uma Ramakrishnan is the other. She is an Associate Professor at NCBS interested in molecular ecology and conservation genetics. Her work involves using genetic and genomic data to make inferences about populations of endangered species and suggest me assures to avoid extinction.