Publications

Here we report the sequencing of 67 new mammoths including non-Woolly specimens representing Columbian (Mammuthus columbi), Jeffersonian (Mammuthus jeffersonii), and pygmy (Mammuthus exilis) mammoths. In disagreement with the paleontological record, our analysis suggests that these mammoth species interbred, and may have resulted in specimens displaying intermediate Woolly-Columbian morphologies.

McMaster Ancient DNA Centre researchers and collaborators study sequences all living Xenarthra (armadillos, sloths, and anteaters); the first major placental mammal clade to be have all living species sequenced.

The 14th-18th century pandemic of Yersinia pestis caused devastating disease outbreaks in Europe for almost 400 years. The reasons for plague’s persistence and abrupt disappearance in Europe are poorly understood, but could have been due to either the presence of now-extinct plague foci in Europe itself, or successive disease introductions from other locations. Here we present five Y. pestis genomes from one of the last European outbreaks of plague, from 1722 in Marseille, France.

Among the fossils of hitherto unknown mammals that Darwin collected in South America between 1832 and 1833 during the Beagle expedition were examples of the large, heavily armored herbivores later known as glyptodonts. Ever since, glyptodonts have fascinated evolutionary biologists because of their remarkable skeletal adaptations and seemingly isolated phylogenetic position even within their natural group, the cingulate xenarthrans (armadillos and their allies). In possessing a carapace comprised of fused osteoderms, the glyptodonts were clearly related to other cingulates, but their precise phylogenetic position as suggested by morphology remains unresolved.

A review of the processes undertaken in Ancient DNA studies - from sample to data analysis.

A comparative analysis on DNA repair/recovery methodologies to increase the amount of recoverable material.

With an international team of collaborators, the McMaster Ancient DNA Centre is pleased to report the first complete genome sequences of two Siberian woolly mammoths.

Research paper outlining the usefulness of broad microarrays as a rapid and inexpensive paleopathological screening tool for ancient samples.

Study validating the use of reference-free bait synthesis for whole-genome enrichment.