DNA recovery from ancient human remains has revolutionized our ability to reconstruct the genetic landscape of the past. Ancient DNA research has benefited from the identification of skeletal elements, such as the cochlear part of the osseous inner ear, that provides optimal contexts for DNA preservation; however, the rich genetic information obtained from the cochlea must be counterbalanced against the loss of morphological information caused by its sampling. Motivated by similarities in developmental processes and histological properties between the cochlea and auditory ossicles, we evaluate the ossicles as an alternative source of ancient DNA. We show that ossicles perform comparably to the cochlea in terms of DNA recovery, finding no substantial reduction in data quantity and minimal differences in data quality across preservation conditions. Ossicles can be sampled from intact skulls or disarticulated petrous bones without damage to surrounding bone, and we argue that they should be used when available to reduce damage to human remains. Our results identify another optimal skeletal element for ancient DNA analysis and add to a growing toolkit of sampling methods that help to better preserve skeletal remains for future research while maximizing the likelihood that ancient DNA analysis will produce useable results.

中文翻译：

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人类听小骨作为古代 DNA 的替代最佳来源。

从古代人类遗骸中提取 DNA 彻底改变了我们重建过去遗传景观的能力。古代 DNA 研究受益于骨骼元素的鉴定，例如骨性内耳的耳蜗部分，为 DNA 保存提供了最佳环境；然而，从耳蜗获得的丰富遗传信息必须抵消其采样造成的形态信息丢失。受耳蜗和听小骨之间发育过程和组织学特性相似性的启发，我们将听小骨作为古代 DNA 的替代来源进行评估。我们表明，在 DNA 恢复方面，小骨的性能与耳蜗相当，发现数据量没有显着减少，不同保存条件下数据质量的差异也很小。小骨可以从完整的头骨或脱节的岩骨中取样，而不会损坏周围的骨骼，我们认为应该在可用时使用它们来减少对人类遗骸的损坏。我们的结果确定了古代 DNA 分析的另一种最佳骨骼元素，并添加到不断增长的采样方法工具包中，这些方法有助于更好地保存骨骼遗骸以供未来研究使用，同时最大限度地提高古代 DNA 分析产生可用结果的可能性。