About 1,600 years ago, salt miners in Iran apparently left their lamb lunch down the shaft. Their loss became scientists' gain. The now-mummified sheep carcass suggests that salt helps preserve sheepskin DNA.
The research results, published in Biology Letters, showed probably the best-preserved DNA from any skin from that time.1 The Iranian and European team used radiocarbon dating to help establish an age estimate. They sequenced DNA from the sheep skin and discovered that it was high enough quality to compare against modern sheep. Does this “exceptional ancient DNA preservation” have any bearing on discussions about preserved dinosaur DNA?
This sheep skin sample had much less degraded DNA than other samples about the same age (1,600 years). The study authors attributed the exceptional preservation to two effects of the salt. First, it dried out the skin. Less water means less chemistry, and random chemistry is the enemy of DNA preservation. Second, the salt may have discouraged microbes that ordinarily degrade carcasses.
These effects make sense in light of the way we have used salt to preserve foods like bacon. Microbes don’t thrive in dry, salty conditions. But even with salt right next to the sheep skin to keep microbes at bay, the sheep DNA was still fragmented. Clearly, chemistry has been happening on that DNA, even with salt nearby.
The report cited a separate study explaining why DNA is expected to decay. Its authors wrote, “Fragmentation through depurination is a well-characterized process.” They also said, “The immutable depurination process likely still imposes practical limits on DNA recovery in deep time and recovering Mesozoic DNA, for example, remains extremely unlikely.”2
Thus, even if salt doubled the maximum time that DNA in skin could last, we still shouldn’t find it in dinosaur bones said to be 70 million years old. And yet we do—and none of those fossils were found next to salt.3,4
In the end, immutable depurination destroys DNA, yet actual DNA occurs in some rare fossils. Salt-preserved DNA in a sheep’s skin doesn’t resolve this huge discrepancy, but a young world would. A Noah’s Flood origin for fossils including dinosaur bones places them within a time range where we would still expect to find some rare DNA fragments even without salt.
References
1. Rossi, C., et al. 2021. Exceptional ancient DNA preservation and fibre remains of a Sasanian salt mine sheep mummy in ChehrÄbÄd, Iran. Biology Letters. 17: 20210222.
2. Kissler, L., et al. 2017. A new model for ancient DNA decay based on paleogenomic meta-analysis. Nucleic Acids Research. 45:11: 6310-6320.
3. Bailleul, A. M., et al. 2020. Evidence of proteins, chromosomes and chemical markers of DNA in exceptionally preserved dinosaur cartilage. National Science Review. 4: 815-822.
4. Schweitzer, M. H. et al. 2013. Molecular analyses of dinosaur osteocytes support the presence of endogenous molecules. Bone. 52(1): 414-423.
*Dr. Brian Thomas is Research Scientist at the Institute for Creation Research and earned his Ph.D. in paleobiochemistry from the University of Liverpool.
DNA in Sheep and Dinosaurs
The Latest
Dino Footprints Down Under
Dinosaur trackways1 are once again making the news. Australia is the setting of a remarkable series of dinosaur tracks attributed to ornithischian...
April 2025 ICR Wallpaper
"But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things...
Human Evolution and the Inner Ear
The vain attempt by evolutionists to make an evolutionary connection between people and ape-like ancestors continues. This time, it is in regard to...
CREATION PODCAST
Defending the Faith with a Rocket Scientist | Creation.Live Podcast:...
How do engineering principles, biological complexity, and a solid understanding of apologetics work together to further the cause of Christ? Why...
Aerobic and Anaerobic Hot Spring Bacteria
God designed a domain of prokaryotes called Archaea that thrive in harsh and extreme environments. In 1969, two microbiologists, Thomas Brock and Hudson...
CREATION PODCAST
The Soulless Hominid Theory: A Fatal Flaw in Old Earth Creationism...
Welcome to the second episode in a series called “The Failures of Old Earth Creationism.” Many Christians attempt to fit...
Humpback Whale Calls Echo Creation
There is nothing simple about the system of communication called language, whether animal or human.1 Human language is a very sophisticated...
Mary Parker, Creation Ministry Partner of Dr. Gary Parker, Is...
Mary Parker, the wife and co-laborer of Dr. Gary Parker, went home to be with her Lord on March 20, 2025.
Dr. Parker was a popular and effective...
Plants Rely on Quantum Mechanics
Scientists will probably never fully understand photosynthesis as additional research uncovers even more fascinating mysteries.1,2 ICR’s...
Martian Polar Ice Cap ''Surprisingly Young''?
A team of German planetary scientists has concluded that a three-kilometer-thick northern polar ice cap on Mars has a “surprisingly young”...