摘要：Ancient DNA is recovered from post mortem materials, such as archaeological or historical specimens. Because samples tend to be sparse and highly damaged, ancient DNA is vulnerable to different sources of contamination during the process of manipulation. Thus, the authenticity of the DNA sequences retrieved is crucial to ancient DNA research. Recent advances in high-throughput DNA sequencing have made amplifying low-content ancient DNA molecules possible. However, contaminant DNA is amplified greatly in the mean time, which makes eliminating and assessing contamination more difficult. Authentication based on PCR reactions is also effective in high-throughput DNA sequencing; more approaches for high-throughput DNA sequencing have been developed, such as length distribution, nucleotide misincorporation patterning, nucleotide frequency at and around the ends of DNA fragments, and correlation of coverage with GC content. The level of contamination in the sample can, to some extent, be observed at the heterozygote. Overall, a wide range of methods are necessary to judge whether or not the retrieved DNA is usable.
