Ethanol re-precipitation removes PCR inhibitors from Ancient DNA extract

One of the major problems in ancient DNA work is the presence of inhibitory substances, which hampers Taq polymerase activity. Therefore analysis of ancient DNA sample is very challenging. Here we describe a simple and competent ethanol re-precipitation based protocol for the purification of DNA from ancient bones and tissues. The efficiency of this procedure has been demonstrated on 600 years old biological samples provided by Anthropological Survey of India (Himalaya region). This suggests that re-precipitation of ancient DNA extracts removes PCR inhibitors and increases the success rate of amplification.