USP sets up 1st laboratory in Brazil to study DNA of ancient peoples

With three purple latex gloves, a white jumpsuit (just like the ones that have become popular in the fight against Covid), goggles and a mask, biologist Tiago Ferraz tries to avoid contamination of his own DNA in the remains of bones of individuals who lived a long time ago. 11 thousand years in the country, where today is the region of Lagoa Santa (MG).

Although it seems strange, the procedure is routine in molecular biology laboratories. It just wasn’t part of the routine of archaeologists and paleontologists, whose objects of research are human or animal remains —or traces of their presence— that no longer exist.

Ferraz is getting ready to analyze the DNA extracted from the bones of ancient peoples. The area of ​​study, called archeogenetics, gained international prominence after Swedish researcher Svante Pääbo was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology this year for his research on genomic sequencing of Neanderthals.

Although this is a field on the rise, research was previously restricted to rich countries in the Northern Hemisphere, with structures capable of carrying out such analyses. Now, USP (University of São Paulo) has created the first laboratory of archeogenetics in Brazil, whose structure will be of great importance for the study of South American peoples.

Located in the University’s Museum of Archeology and Ethnology, Laaae (Laboratory of Archeology and Environmental and Evolutionary Anthropology), coordinated by researcher André Strauss, received financial support from FAPESP (Foundation for Research Support of the State of São Paulo) in the amount of R $2 million and is also supported by the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany.

The expectation is that the tests will begin in the first half of 2023, with the arrival of the necessary reagents to extract the genetic material. “There is a bureaucratic issue of acquiring the reagents because this comes through USP, so I believe that by May, June of next year it will already be working”, says Strauss.

In the last 20 years, the profusion of molecular biology laboratories allowed more efficient and less costly techniques to be popularized, causing a revolution in archeology and anthropology studies based on DNA analysis.

This is how scientists were able to arrive at great discoveries, such as the realization that we, modern humans (homo sapiens) we carry a percentage ranging from 3% to 5% of Neanderthal DNA in our own genetic material.

Another incredible discovery was that of a distinct human species, Denisovan man, known only from its genetic sequence extracted from a finger fragment found in Siberia in 2010.

It was at Max Planck that Päabo developed his research in recent decades. Johannes Krause, who was a doctoral student of the researcher and now directs the institute, helped train Ferraz on the archeogenetic techniques he developed in the European country.

“The project has two central axes, one was to build the laboratory, which we have already done, and the other is to train human resources, which is what Tiago did in Germany. So it is innovative because it will allow for the first time that analyzes are carried out in Brazil instead of sending the samples abroad”, says Strauss.

The support of the German institute was crucial to help set up the São Paulo laboratory. “We adapted the Max Planck structure to the space we had at USP. It’s tighter, but we managed to install the necessary equipment within our reality”, reports Strauss, who is currently receiving a post-doctoral scholarship at the institution to work in training from other students.

With an increasingly changing field such as archeology and anthropology, the new space intends to act in at least four distinct lines of research: origin of the first Americans, migration along the coast, the traditional peoples of the Amazon and those of northern Peru.

Before carrying out the analyses, the materials are photographed and reconstructed in 3D using computed tomography equipment. This is because the extraction of DNA from very ancient organisms, without preserving soft tissues, is carried out by destroying the bones, generating a powder that is then passed through various procedures until obtaining the genetic material.

The main fragments used in archeogenetic studies are the petrosal bone (which forms part of the temporal bone, including the inner ear), teeth and, less frequently, long and calcaneal bones (ankle bone).

For Strauss, the possibility of starting to carry out analyzes next year at the university could represent a leap forward for Brazilian science. “We have capacity, what we lack is institutional support, human resources. USP has the structure, what we cannot do is to be helpless”, he reports.

On the last 1st, the funds transferred to the Ministry of Education were frozen due to budget restrictions, blocking the transfer from Capes (Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel), one of the main research promotion agencies in the country.

In addition to blocking the payment of more than 200,000 scholarship holders, the contingency also affected federal institutes and universities in the country. The agency resumed payment a few days later, but the unstable situation worries scientists across the country.

“It is a waste to have a highly qualified person who is unable to carry out his research because the laboratory lacks basic structure”, regrets the researcher.

“I think this new center is proof that we are able to implement cutting-edge molecular biology analysis techniques in an almost completely autonomous way. This is the only way we will advance our knowledge of the ancient history of populations on the American continent”, he adds.