Extinct DNA bears up in modern species
Nature Ecology & Evolution
2018년8월28일
Although cave bears became extinct 25,000 years ago, their DNA lives on in brown bears today, reports a paper published online this week in Nature Ecology & Evolution.
Axel Barlow and colleagues investigate the genomic sequences of four cave bears that lived between 71,000-34,000 years ago. They compare these with DNA and genome sequences from both ancient and modern brown bears, as well as American and Asiatic black bears, spectacled bears, pandas and polar bears - the last of which were previously found to have interbred with brown bears.
The authors find that all the brown bear genomes they sequence include a contribution of cave bear DNA - amounting to between 0.9-2.4% of the genome - and that, similarly, cave bears also harbour brown bear DNA, albeit in smaller proportions. The authors conclude that brown bears and cave bears must have interbred before the latter became extinct. Further DNA analysis reveals that there was gene flow between both species.
Although it had been known that modern-day, non-African humans share small amounts of DNA with extinct ancient hominin populations such as Neanderthals and Denisovans, this is the first time that DNA from an extinct Ice Age species has been reported in a living population outside of the human lineage.
doi: 10.1038/s41559-018-0654-8
리서치 하이라이트
-
6월29일
Environment: 1.81 billion people at risk of 1-in-100 year floodNature Communications
-
6월28일
Astronomy: Hydrogen- and helium-rich exoplanets may provide habitable conditions for billions of yearsNature Astronomy
-
6월28일
Climate change: Decline in tropical cyclones during the twentieth centuryNature Climate Change
-
6월24일
Environment: Assessing the impacts of US school lunches on climate, land and waterCommunications Earth & Environment
-
6월24일
Palaeontology: It sucked to be the prey of ancient cephalopodsScientific Reports
-
6월23일
Scientific community: Women credited less than men in scientific paper authorshipNature