In recent years, nonhuman ancient DNA studies have begun to focus on larger sample sizes and whole genomes, offering the potential to reveal exciting and hitherto unknown answers to ongoing biological and archaeological questions. However, one major limitation to such studies is the substantial financial and time investments still required during sample screening, due to uncertainty regarding successful sample selection. This study investigates the effect of a wide range of sample properties including latitude, sample age, skeletal element, collagen preservation, and context on endogenous content and DNA damage profiles for 317 ancient and historic pinniped samples collected from across the North Atlantic and surrounding regions. Using generalised linear and mixed‐effect models, we found that a range of factors affected DNA preservation within each of the species under consideration. The most important findings were that endogenous content varied significantly within species according to context, the type of skeletal element, the collagen content and collection year. There also appears to be an effect of the sample's geographic origin, with samples from the Arctic generally showing higher endogenous content and lower damage rates. Both latitude and sample age were found to have significant relationships with damage levels, but only for walrus samples. Sex, ontogenetic age and extraction material preparation were not found to have any significant relationship with DNA preservation. Overall, skeletal element and sample context were found to be the most influential factors and should therefore be considered when selecting samples for large‐scale ancient genome studies.

中文翻译：

---

预测海洋哺乳动物大规模古代 DNA 研究的样本成功率

近年来，非人类古代 DNA 研究开始关注更大的样本量和整个基因组，这有可能为当前的生物学和考古问题揭示令人兴奋且迄今为止未知的答案。然而，此类研究的一个主要限制是，由于成功样本选择的不确定性，在样本筛选过程中仍需要大量的财务和时间投入。本研究调查了各种样本特性的影响，包括纬度、样本年龄、骨骼元素、胶原蛋白保存以及从北大西洋及周边地区收集的 317 个古代和历史鳍足类样本的内源内容和 DNA 损伤概况的背景。使用广义线性和混合效应模型，我们发现一系列因素影响所考虑的每个物种内的 DNA 保存。最重要的发现是，根据背景、骨骼元素类型、胶原蛋白含量和收集年份，物种内的内源含量存在显着差异。样品的地理来源似乎也有影响，来自北极的样品通常显示出较高的内源含量和较低的损坏率。研究发现，纬度和样本年龄都与损害程度有显着关系，但仅限于海象样本。未发现性别、个体发育年龄和提取材料制备与DNA保存有任何显着关系。总体而言，骨骼元素和样本背景被发现是最有影响力的因素，因此在为大规模古代基因组研究选择样本时应予以考虑。