If Michael Crichton, author of Jurassic Park , raised his head, he would be pleasantly surprised. Scientists at the University of Copenhagen have developed a method that allows ancient DNA to be extracted from any animal , including an insect, while the fossil remains intact . With this new technique, scientists have set out to extract genetic material from insects currently preserved in Natural History Museums around the world. With the information provided by their samples, it is possible to study the genetics of populations of prehistoric ecosystems .
In addition, biologist Philip Francis Thomsen and his colleagues have managed to extract DNA from beetles and butterflies from 3,000-year -old soils in New Zealand, in which there were no visible remains of the body of insects. By applying this technique in a massive way to certain sites, ancient biodiversity could be rebuilt without the need to find macroscopic fossil remains, as suggested in the journal PLoS one.
