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Publication Details
AFRICAN RESEARCH NEXUS
SHINING A SPOTLIGHT ON AFRICAN RESEARCH
earth and planetary sciences
Mitochondrial DNA diversity and evolution of the Pleistocene cave bear complex
Quaternary International, Volume 339-340, Year 2014
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Description
Cave bears are among the most well known extinct Pleistocene mammals. Their biogeography and taxonomy, along with the factors that led to their extinction, have been subject to long-standing controversy. Here, we reconstruct the phylogeography as well as the temporal and spatial population dynamics of cave bears across their range using mitochondrial DNA control region sequences from 77 published as well as 65 new cave bear samples, Our analyses reveal a dramatic loss of genetic diversity in cave bear populations after 30,000 years before present and provide evidence for a range decline from east to west towards the onset of the last glacial maximum. Our results also suggest that the three major haplogroups within cave bears, which may correspond to distinct species, were previously more widespread, with relict populations in remote and alpine areas still harbouring haplotypes that have disappeared from most of their previous range. Applying a phylogenetic dating approach, we estimated the age of the oldest of our samples, originating from the Yana River region in north-eastern Siberia, to be around 178,000 years, which confirms a previous estimate of a Middle Pleistocene age based on its stratigraphic position. Our results extend our knowledge about the evolutionary history of cave bears, but they also show that to unravel the complexities of cave bear evolution future ancient DNA studies on this Pleistocene species will need to go beyond short mitochondrial DNA fragments, including full mitochondrial genomes as well as nuclear DNA sequences. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd and INQUA.
Authors & Co-Authors
Stiller, Mathias
United States, Santa Cruz
University of California, Santa Cruz
Germany, Leipzig
Max-planck-institut Für Evolutionäre Anthropologie
Prost, Stefan
Germany, Leipzig
Max-planck-institut Für Evolutionäre Anthropologie
United States, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
Baryshnikov, Gennady F.
Russian Federation, Moscow
Russian Academy of Sciences
Rosendahl, Wilfried
Unknown Affiliation
Bocherens, Hervé
Germany, Tubingen
Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen
Grandal-d’Anglade, Aurora
Spain, A Coruna
Universidade da Coruña
Germonpré, Mietje B.
Belgium, Brussels
Koninklijk Belgisch Instituut Voor Natuurwetenschappen
Pinhasi, Ron
Ireland, Dublin
University College Dublin
Rohland, Nadin
United States, Boston
Harvard Medical School
Mohandesan, Elmira
Austria, Vienna
Veterinarmedizinische Universitat Wien
Ho, Simon Y.W.
Australia, Sydney
The University of Sydney
Hofreiter, Michael
Germany, Leipzig
Max-planck-institut Für Evolutionäre Anthropologie
United Kingdom, York
University of York
Knapp, Michael
Germany, Leipzig
Max-planck-institut Für Evolutionäre Anthropologie
United Kingdom, Bangor
Bangor University
Statistics
Citations: 65
Authors: 13
Affiliations: 17
Identifiers
Doi:
10.1016/j.quaint.2013.09.023
ISSN:
10406182
Research Areas
Cancer
Genetics And Genomics
Study Design
Cross Sectional Study