Problems of reproducibility--does geologically ancient DNA survive in amber-preserved insects? (2024)

PMCID: PMC1688388

J J Austin, A J Ross, A B Smith, R A Fortey, and R H Thomas

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Abstract

Apparently ancient DNA has been reported from amber-preserved insects many millions of years old. Rigorous attempts to reproduce these DNA sequences from amber- and copal-preserved bees and flies have failed to detect any authentic ancient insect DNA. Lack of reproducibility suggests that DNA does not survive over millions of years even in amber, the most promising of fossil environments.

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