Incorporating historical museum specimens into molecular systematic and conservation genetics research

We successfully amplified mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and microsatellites from historical museum specimens of lizards and frogs dating from 1894 through to 1998. Ancient DNA techniques were used to extract whole genomic DNA from a number of different tissues, including liver, leg muscle and toe clips, followed by standard polymerase chain reaction techniques for amplification. We had a 78% success rate amplifying mtDNA from 14 museum specimens and a 57% success rate amplifying microsatellite markers for seven museum specimens. Our study demonstrates the feasibility of incorporating historical museum specimens into molecular systematic and conservation genetic studies.