COMPARISON OF DNA EXTRACTION AND AMPLIFICATION FROM ANCIENT HUMAN BONE AND MUMMIFIED SOFT-TISSUE

South american precolumbian male mummies were employed as source mater ial for a comparative investigation of bone and soft tissues by DNA an alysis. The suitability of the DNA extracts from both sources was test ed and evaluated by their effectiveness as target DNA in PCR amplifica tions. The results suggest that skeletal material should be given pref erence over soft tissues for PCR analysis if the material is severely degraded. This seems to be independent of the specific anatomical orig in of the samples.