RE: Dinosaur Protein

[Christopher Taylor <gerarus@westnet.com.au>]

The main culprit in breakdown of DNA is water, so it should be
_theoretically_ possible for DNA to last almost indefinitely in the
complete absence of water - very unlikely in environmental samples.
There are claims for bacterial recovery from amber and ancient salt
crystals, but as far as I know most researchers would be fairly
sceptical about such claims. The main problem with bacteria is that they
are simply so ubiquitous that the potential for environmental
contamination is almost impossible to completely eliminate.

    Cheers,

        Christopher Taylor

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-dinosaur@usc.edu [mailto:owner-dinosaur@usc.edu] On Behalf
Of jbois@verizon.net
Sent: Friday, 13 April 2007 10:40 AM
To: David Marjanovic; DML
Subject: Re: Dinosaur Protein

>No, why? Unlike protein, DNA doesn't seem to last longer than 100,000
years 
under any circumstances, alas. Here we're dealing with 1,000 times that 
timespan. 

So, the _B. subtilis_ cultured from > million year old amber-entombed
mosquito was from another source?  And, why does DNA not hold up so
well?
Thanks in advance.

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