3,600-year-old Chinese kefir cheese DNA extract reveals origin outside North Caucasus.

A study published in *Cell* reveals that scientists have extracted DNA from ancient cheese samples, approximately 3,600 years old, found in China’s Tarim Basin. Identified as kefir, the cheese contains cow and goat DNA and challenges the belief that kefir originated solely in the North Caucasus. The research sheds light on the evolution of probiotic bacteria, indicating how these microbes adapted to human hosts over millennia.

September 25, 2024
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