Terran Paleogenomics is a major part of the field of Genomics. Its major focus is on studying ancient DNA from our planet. There is a wide range of topics that is covered by the field of Terran Paleogenomics. This reflects the wide diversity of applications that are emerging in research on ancient DNA, including:
-Recovery of DNA from organisms trapped in amber
-DNA from humans preserved in a variety of locations and conditions
-The study of DNA to analyze kinship
-DNA recovered from herbarium and museum specimens
-DNA isolated from ancient plant seeds or compression fossils
The study of ancient DNA is very young. The term "ancient DNA" refers to DNA that can and has been recovered from non-living clinical, museum, archaeological, and paleontological specimens. The specimens can range in age from a few to several million years in age. The study of ancient DNA contributes greatly to the field of Paleogenomics.
Recently, the main advances in Paleogenomics have come from the recovery and analysis of genetic material from Paleontological, Archeological, Museum, Medical, and Forensic specimens. An example of this comes from California Polytechnic State University microbiology professor Raul Cano. Dr. Cano has discovered that bacteria that is millions of years old can be brought back to life.
One of Cano's main accomplishments has been bringing back a sample of bacteria that has lain dormant in the gut of an ancient mosquito-like insect encased in amber. Amber comes from the hardened sap of some trees. It has protected the insect extremely well over the eons.
Dr. Cano and his students have extracted the bacteria spores from the gut of the insect and have brought them back to life. This is very exciting for present day genomicists. Once the genome of these bacteria were determined, they were compared to present day genomes of bacteria that live in the gut of mosquitoes. It was found that, while very similar, the genomes of the two bacteria have some unique differences.
The reason why this is so very important is because if some ancient bacteria can be brought back to life, then other ancient bacteria can be done as well. This opens up a whole different array of bacteria that could be potentially be useful to many different fields including medicine and pharmaceutics.
Areopaleontology/Areopaleogenomics
Saint Louis College of Pharmacy Genomics Homepage