The fossil is partial, with a relatively complete carapace - the turtle's shell - but not the rest of the skeleton. In some of the osteocytes, the cell nuclei were preserved and reacted to a chemical solution that allowed the researchers to recognize the presence of remnants of DNA, the molecule that carries genetic information for an organism's development and functioning, said paleontologist Edwin Cadena, lead author of the study published in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. Researchers last year reported the discovery of DNA from animals, plants and microbes dating to about 2 million years ago from sediment at Greenland's remote northernmost point.