@article{Sirak01032020,
author = {Sirak, Kendra and Fernandes, Daniel and Cheronet, Olivia and Harney, Eadaoin and Mah, Matthew and Mallick, Swapan and Rohland, Nadin and Adamski, Nicole and Broomandkhoshbacht, Nasreen and Callan, Kimberly and Candilio, Francesca and Lawson, Ann Marie and Mandl, Kirsten and Oppenheimer, Jonas and Stewardson, Kristin and Zalzala, Fatma and Anders, Alexandra and Bartík, Juraj and Coppa, Alfredo and Dashtseveg, Tumen and Évinger, Sándor and Farkaš, Zdeněk and Hajdu, Tamás and Bayarsaikhan, Jamsranjav and McIntyre, Lauren and Moiseyev, Vyacheslav and Okumura, Mercedes and Pap, Ildikó and Pietrusewsky, Michael and Raczky, Pál and Šefčáková, Alena and Soficaru, Andrei and Szeniczey, Tamás and Szőke, Béla Miklós and Van Gerven, Dennis and Vasilyev, Sergey and Bell, Lynne and Reich, David and Pinhasi, Ron}, 
title = {Human auditory ossicles as an alternative optimal source of ancient DNA},
volume = {30}, 
number = {3}, 
pages = {427-436}, 
year = {2020}, 
doi = {10.1101/gr.260141.119}, 
abstract ={DNA recovery from ancient human remains has revolutionized our ability to reconstruct the genetic landscape of the past. Ancient DNA research has benefited from the identification of skeletal elements, such as the cochlear part of the osseous inner ear, that provides optimal contexts for DNA preservation; however, the rich genetic information obtained from the cochlea must be counterbalanced against the loss of morphological information caused by its sampling. Motivated by similarities in developmental processes and histological properties between the cochlea and auditory ossicles, we evaluate the ossicles as an alternative source of ancient DNA. We show that ossicles perform comparably to the cochlea in terms of DNA recovery, finding no substantial reduction in data quantity and minimal differences in data quality across preservation conditions. Ossicles can be sampled from intact skulls or disarticulated petrous bones without damage to surrounding bone, and we argue that they should be used when available to reduce damage to human remains. Our results identify another optimal skeletal element for ancient DNA analysis and add to a growing toolkit of sampling methods that help to better preserve skeletal remains for future research while maximizing the likelihood that ancient DNA analysis will produce useable results.}, 
URL = {http://genome.cshlp.org/content/30/3/427.abstract}, 
eprint = {http://genome.cshlp.org/content/30/3/427.full.pdf+html}, 
journal = {Genome Research} 
}