Scientists have identified DNA from animals, plants and microbes dating to about 2 million years ago – the oldest on record by far – from sediment at Greenland’s northernmost point dug up around the mouth of an Arctic Ocean fjord, revealing an amazing lost world at this remote frontier.
Researchers said on Wednesday fragments of DNA were detected for a panoply of animals including mastodons, reindeer, hares, lemmings and geese as well as plants including poplar, birch and thuja trees and microorganisms including bacteria and fungi.
DNA is the self-replicating material carrying genetic information in living organisms – sort of a blueprint of life.
