The study of ancient genomes presents a unique challenge due to postmortem DNA degradation, resulting in low coverage and complicating diploid genotype calling. To address this limitation, researchers have explored the potential of imputation to improve genotyping accuracy for low-coverage data. However, until now, the impact of imputation on downstream analyses of ancient DNA (aDNA) remained uncertain. In a research paper titled "Imputation of Ancient Human Genomes," recently published in Nature Communications, Bárbara Mota et al. introduce a simple yet ingenious approach to assess the accuracy of imputation for aDNA data. The study represents a significant milestone in the field of ancient genomics and can be read here.
Imputation of ancient human genomes
Bárbara Sousa da Mota, Simone Rubinacci, Diana Ivette Cruz Dávalos, Carlos Eduardo G. Amorim, Martin Sikora, Niels N. Johannsen, Marzena H. Szmyt, Piotr Włodarczak, Anita Szczepanek, Marcin M. Przybyła, Hannes Schroeder, Morten E. Allentoft, Eske Willerslev, Anna-Sapfo Malaspinas & Olivier Delaneau
Nature Communications volume 14, Article number: 3660 (2023)