This isn’t the first time that extraordinarily well-preserved | IELTS articles

This isn’t the first time that extraordinarily well-preserved biological specimens have been found at the Chehrabad salt mine: Between the 1990s and early 2000s, a different group of researchers discovered the ancient remains of eight similarly высушенных humans.

Прозванный the “Salt Men” (although they included one woman, too), some of these 1,300- to 2,500-year-old historical specimens still boast head and facial hair.

For the study, the team extracted DNA from a skin sample cut from the sheep’s leg. Thanks to the salt, the sheep’s DNA molecules were “so well preserved and not fragmented, despite their age,” says senior author Kevin Daly, a research fellow at the Smurfit Institute of Genetics at Trinity College Dublin, to Live Science.

Normally, DNA in a carcass is quick распадаются , as the animal cells’ enzymes degrade the нити by splitting the chemical bonds with water. But salt изолирует water molecules, rendering them unavailable for these chemical reactions. Daly’s team also found DNA aplenty from salt-loving bacteria and archaea, both of which probably helped preserve the sheep leg.

@ege_multiple_choice