Scientists Create DNA Barcode of Ancient Hippocrates Tree
- 10 years ago
Although the exact tree that was used as a classroom by Hippocrates died a long time ago, it is believed that a descendant tree is growing in the same place, and now scientists have been able to produce the DNA barcode of the tree to clone it.
According to ancient legend, Hippocrates, the Greek physician who came up with the diagnosis process still used today in modern medicine, taught his students under an oriental plane on the island of Kos around 24 hundred years ago.
Although the exact tree that was used as a classroom by Hippocrates died a long time ago, it is believed that a descendant tree is growing in the same place, and now scientists have been able to produce the DNA barcode of the tree to clone it.
Cuttings of the 500-year-old descendent tree were given to several international medical institutions, including one planted in 1962 at the U.S. National Library of Medicine close to Washington D.C. when it opened.
The tree started dying in the 1980s from a fungal disease, and cuttings from it were proving difficult to grow, until scientists at the Archangel Ancient Tree Archive in Michigan were able to map the tree’s DNA and clone it. With the dead tree removed in 2013, one of those clones was recently planted in the same place at the National Library of Medicine.
Hippocrates’ book entitled ‘Prognosis’ was the first literature to compare cases of illness in an organized study, and figure out that the same symptoms were caused by the same disease in different people.
According to ancient legend, Hippocrates, the Greek physician who came up with the diagnosis process still used today in modern medicine, taught his students under an oriental plane on the island of Kos around 24 hundred years ago.
Although the exact tree that was used as a classroom by Hippocrates died a long time ago, it is believed that a descendant tree is growing in the same place, and now scientists have been able to produce the DNA barcode of the tree to clone it.
Cuttings of the 500-year-old descendent tree were given to several international medical institutions, including one planted in 1962 at the U.S. National Library of Medicine close to Washington D.C. when it opened.
The tree started dying in the 1980s from a fungal disease, and cuttings from it were proving difficult to grow, until scientists at the Archangel Ancient Tree Archive in Michigan were able to map the tree’s DNA and clone it. With the dead tree removed in 2013, one of those clones was recently planted in the same place at the National Library of Medicine.
Hippocrates’ book entitled ‘Prognosis’ was the first literature to compare cases of illness in an organized study, and figure out that the same symptoms were caused by the same disease in different people.