The first study of what would come to be called aDNA was conducted in 1984, when Russ Higuchi and colleagues at the University of California, Berkeley reported that traces of DNA from a museum specimen of the Quagga not only remained in the specimen over 150 years after the death of the individual, but could be extracted and sequenced.
O primeiro estudo do que se chamaría ADNa realizouse en 1984 cando Russ Higuchi e colegas na Universidade de California, Berkeley informaron de que detectaran trazas de ADN nun espécime de museo de cebra quagga que non só estaban conservados 150 anos despois da morte do espécime, senón que puideron ser extraídos e secuenciados.