A multiomic approach to paleogenetic investigation of ancient North American bison

Abstract

Twelve ancient bison bone samples from north-central North America were examined using genetic and proteomic sequencing to determine relationships to other bison populations. Mitochondrial DNA sequences suggest a genetic affinity that most closely matches populations from contemporaneous bison populations located in central North America. Proteomic sequencing by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry could only resolve relationships to broad taxa and could not determine intra-specific relationships. Also, a novel multiple and simultaneous extraction protocol is presented to extract material suitable for both genetic and proteomic analysis from the same bone sample. It was also found that human serum albumin can be used as a replacement for bovine serum albumin as an effective additive to improve DNA amplification. In addition, chloroform alone can be used as an efficient organic solvent for the purification and separation of protein.