What is "paleogenetics"

n. The application of genetics to palaeontology

Paleogenetics is the study of the past through the examination of preserved genetic material from the remains of ancient organisms. Emile Zuckerkandl and the physical chemist Linus Carl Pauling introduced the term "paleogenetics" in 1963, in reference to the examination of possible applications in the reconstruction of past polypeptide sequences. The first sequence of an ancient DNA, isolated from a museum specimen of the extinct quagga, was published in 1984 by a team led by Allan Wilson.

Paleogeneticists do not recreate actual organisms, but piece together ancient DNA sequences using various analytical methods. In many ways, an organism's genetics are "the only direct witnesses of extinct species and of evolutionary events".