In 1994 the doctor Juan Carlos Martínez Cruzador, professor of genetics of the department of Biology of the University Campus of Mayagüez (RUM), began in an unprecedented project. His interest was to discover the origin of the native Taínos, first settlers of the Island. He confessed that only knew what had taught him in their classes of History of Puerto Rico in fifth and twelfth grade. He remembered that was the archaeologist Juan José Ortiz Aguilú, director of the Program of Archeology of the Institute of Puerto Rican Culture, who awoke their interest in this theme when in an occasion offered him to investigate the mitochondrial deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) in an old skeleton. 
“The mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) is inherited from the mother. The mitochondrion we have it all, but only the mothers inherit it”, explained the scientific doctorate in Harvard. The enormous majority of our genetic material, the DNA, is found in the nucleus of the cell, nevertheless, the mitochondrial is not in the nucleus, but in an organelle known as mitochondrion. This type of DNA is 200 thousand times smaller than the nuclear one and is obtained only from the mother. In this way, remains intact generation through generation, maintaining its original identity. “The human evolution ‘is written’ in the DNA mitochondrial”, uphold the professor, who assured that in spite of the intense crossbreeding in the region of the Caribbean there are mtsDNA that maintain their original identity and they can be identified as the Africans, native or Caucasian.
It was as well when the doctor Martínez Cruzado initiated his research on the native migrations to the Caribbean and with the aid of one of his students, he managed to extract the mitochondrial DNA from a sample of four bones. “Based on the sequence it was determined that the DNA was of native origin”, he said. Nevertheless, the four of them were identical as if they were brothers. “That worried us because the idea was to distinguish some Indians of other and to try to find relation among different”, affirmed. As he said, the genetic process to extract material of bones is very tedious and costly for which they desisted to work with that method. Other methods from extracting DNA are from hair, saliva, and blood. Ours is from saliva. For more information about Dr. Martinez Cruzado’s research click this link.
Since I’m working in the laboratory everyone is very kind. The ones with more knowledge help those ones with less, there’s no need to be afraid of asking because it helps in the learning of the person. My collaboration in the research is the use of mitochondrial DNA to discover Pre-Columbian migrations to the Caribbean: results for Puerto Rico and expectations for the Dominican Republic. Methods or techniques used in this process are PCR,in which samples are amplified that have been demonstrated to be native origin with HVR-I,electroforesis, purification. I also have practiced auto clave. Due that this is my first time doing research and I do not know much information relevant to the reagents and everything, I have committed various errors, but from errors we learn and I’m learning a lot.
