TY  - JOUR
T1  - KIng tutankhamun’s family and demise
AU  - Lorenzen ED, Willerslev E
Y1  - 2010/06/23
N1  - 10.1001/jama.2010.818
JO  - JAMA
SP  - 2471
EP  - 2475
VL  - 303
IS  - 24
N2  - 
The long-term survival of DNA is determined by the environmental history of the samples, and Gilbert et al2 argued in reference to mitochondrial DNA that “in most, if not all, ancient Egyptian remains, [ancient DNA] does not survive to a level that is currently retrievable.” The age of the mummies (more than 3300 years before the present) coupled with their preservation history suggests that DNA survival is highly unlikely. Long-term survival of nuclear DNA sequences, as accessed by Hawass et al, is even less likely than mitochondrial DNA, given lower copy numbers per cell. Success in the retrieval of putative nuclear DNA sequences is also surprising given the use of traditional polymerase chain reaction techniques rather than newly developed capture approaches coupled with second-generation sequencing that allow for successful capture of degraded (shorter) DNA sequences.3

SN  - 0098-7484
M3  - doi: 10.1001/jama.2010.818
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/jama.2010.818
ER  -