Welcome to the project page for H2020 MSCA-IF project 'EpiCDomestic', grant number 704254.

The purpose of this project was to investigate the possibility of epigenomic influences on canine domestication using a combination of ancient DNA, ancient RNA, and new analytical pipelines. This relies on our ability to first of all sequence DNA from a range of dogs and wolves of various ages, tissues and preservation environments, and use damages DNA bases to infer areas of epigenomic modification (see 'Elements - Epigenomics).

Ancient DNA, extracted from bones, teeth, and other tissues of long-dead organisms, is now routinely sequenced from ancient material. New and emerging techniques to characterise the epigenome from ancient DNA are becoming more common. Since we know that methylated cytosine bases, which are an epigenomic marker, degrade to thymine bases over time, we can use these degradation patterns to identify epigenomically-modified areas of the genome to investigate further.

Ancient RNA is thought of as being much less stable than ancient DNA, and so sequencing it poses a unique technical challenge by itself. A major part of this project was to attempt to sequence ancient RNA from sources that were previously thought to be unsuitable for such preservation. Because of the 'central dogma' of genetics (i.e. DNA is transcribed to RNA, which is then translated into protein), ancient RNA is important because it has the potential to bridge the gap between what we know of ancient genomes (ancient DNA) and what we know they produce (palaeoproteomics). It also has the potential to identify gene regulation in response to environment.