Abstract
This study compared two methods for preparing ancient DNA (aDNA) for the construction of successful shotgun libraries that may be applied to massive parallel sequencing. For the comparative analysis, the DNA of prehistoric rib samples from Hungary was extracted using either a manually prepared silica suspension or the Amicon Ultracel-15 10K ultracentrifugal device (Millipore). After the extraction of the same amount of bone powder (about 150 mg) from three samples by each method, the amount of extracted doublestranded DNA and the subsequent degree of construction of the shotgun library were analyzed. The Amicon device method was rapid and easier to perform and resulted in an approximately 11-fold higher DNA recovery than that obtained using the silica suspension. The shotgun library constructed using DNA templates prepared by the Amicon device was more successful than that constructed from templates isolated using the silica suspension. The comparative study of these two aDNA extraction methods showed that the Amicon device has the advantages of saving time, process simplicity, and high efficiency.