Amplification of oak DNA from ancient and modern wood

A polymorphic noncoding region of chloroplast DNA (cpDNA) was successfully amplified by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) from various oak wood samp les, including recent and more ancient (about 600-years-old) samples from d ifferent oak species. Adaptation of DNA isolation and amplification protoco ls was necessary to obtain this result. Polymorphisms useful to distinguish species or geographical origin of these samples could be scored through se quencing. These polymorphisms include one substitution and two microsatelli te- type polymorphisms, due to a variable number of A/T repeats, identical results were obtained independently in two separate laboratories.