Analyzing DNA is useful for a number of vital applications. This includes diagnosis and monitoring of diseases, identification of criminals, and studying the function of a targeted segment of DNA. However, methods used for analyses often require more DNA than may be available in a typical sample. ‘Therefore, amplification is necessary, but not always straightforward.
Biological anthropologists Connie Mulligan, of the University of Florida, and Emoke Szathmary, of the University of Manitoba, consider how genetics informs our current understanding of the population history of the Americas in the latest issue of the American Journal of Physical Anthropology.