Oldest DNA Ever Sequenced Done with Breakthrough Technology

New advances in genome sequencing technology have allowed the frozen remains of a 500,000-year-old horse to be genetically analyzed, providing scientists with the oldest DNA ever sequenced, according to the archaeology site Western Digs.

The horse was discovered in Canada's Yukon territory in 2003 and could be anywhere between 560,000 and 780,000 years old, and by synthesizing its DNA scientists learned that the specimen belongs to the genus Equus, which includes horses, donkeys and zebras.

By using new techniques to analyze DNA, the researchers found that the Equus genus dates back more than 4 million years, which is twice as long as scientists initially believed, Western Digs reported.

Research coordinator Ludovic Orlando, of the University of Copenhagen, told Western Digs that "When we started the project, everyone -- including us, to be honest -- thought it was impossible.

"And it was to some extent, with the methods available by then. So it's clearly methodological advances that made this possible."

Prior to this ancient horse, the oldest genome ever sequenced belonged to a 120,000-year-old polar bear, Western Digs said.

To better date the horse genome, the researchers compared it to the genes of a modern horse and the DNA of a 43,000-year-old horse, as well as the DNA of the the Przewalski's horse, which is the last remaining species of wild horse.

By making full-genome comparisons, Orlando said the researchers were able to create a "molecular clock" that can reveal the evolutionary benchmarks of horse history.

"Basically genomes of that age will enable us to test the validity of the many paleontological species in our family tree," he said, "and to determine how they relate to each other, and whether they exchanged genes or not," Orlando said.

News about the oldest DNA ever sequenced was first published in June. Then, Orlando said the new technological advances led to breakthroughs in DNA sequencing technology.

"We've beaten the time barrier," Orlando told the journal Nature. "All of a sudden, you have access to many more extinct species than you could have ever dreamed of sequencing before."