NOVEL DNA TOOL LETS TRACE ANCESTRY.
Scientists have created a DNA tool that can accurately identify ancient populations, and may be used to test an individual's similarity to ancient people who once roamed the earth. Currently the study of ancient DNA requires a lot of information to classify a skeleton to a population or find its biographical origins. Scientists at the University of Sheffield in the UK have defined a new concept called Ancient Ancestry Informative Markers (AAIMs) - a group of mutations that are sufficiently informative to identify and classify ancient populations. The research led by Eran Elhaik, from University of Sheffield in the UK, saw the identification of a small group of AAIMs that can be used to classify skeletons to ancient populations. "We developed a new method that finds AAIMs efficiently and have proved that it is accurate", said Elhaik. AIMs (Ancestry Informative Markers) have a long history in science and have been employed for the past decade by health and forensic expert...