| 1. |
- Abrham, Muzit, et al.
(författare)
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Properties of vertebrate predator–prey networks in the high Arctic
- 2024
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Ingår i: Ecology and Evolution. - 2045-7758. ; 14:6
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Predation is an important ecological process that can significantly impact the maintenance of ecosystem services. In arctic environments, the relative ecological importance of predation is thought to be increasing due to climate change, partly because of increased productivity with rising temperatures. Therefore, understanding predator–prey interactions in arctic ecosystems is vital for the sustainable management of these northern regions. Network theory provides a framework for quantifying the structures of ecological interactions. In this study, we use dietary observations on mammalian and avian predators in a high arctic region, including isolated peninsulas on Ellesmere Island and north Greenland, to construct bipartite trophic networks. We quantify the complexity, specialization, and nested as well as modular structures of these networks and also determine if these properties varied among the peninsulas. Mammal prey remains were the dominant diet item for all predators, but there was spatial variation in diet composition among peninsulas. The predator–prey networks were less complex, had more specialized interactions, and were more nested and more modular than random expectations. However, the networks displayed only moderate levels of modularity. Predator species had less specialized interactions with prey than prey had with predators. All network properties differed among the peninsulas, which highlights that ecosystems often show complex responses to environmental characteristics. We suggest that gaining knowledge about spatial variation in the characteristics of predator–prey interactions can enhance our ability to manage ecosystems exposed to environmental perturbations, particularly in high arctic environments subject to rapid environmental change.
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| 2. |
- Dalerum, Fredrik, et al.
(författare)
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Exploring the diet of arctic wolves (Canis lupus arctos) at their northern range limit
- 2018
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Ingår i: Canadian Journal of Zoology. - : Canadian Science Publishing. - 0008-4301 .- 1480-3283. ; 96:3, s. 277-281
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The grey wolf (Canis lupus Linnaeus, 1758) is one of the most widespread large carnivores on Earth, and occurs throughout the Arctic. Although wolf diet is well studied, we have scant information from high Arctic areas. Global warming is expected to increase the importance of predation for ecosystem regulation in Arctic environments. To improve our ability to manage Arctic ecosystems under environmental change, we therefore need knowledge about Arctic predator diets. Prey remains in 54 wolf scats collected at three sites in the high Arctic region surrounding the Hall Basin (Judge Daly Promontory, Ellesmere Island, Canada, and Washington Land and Hall Land, both in northwestern Greenland) pointed to a dietary importance of arctic hare (Lepus arcticus Ross, 1819; 55% frequency of occurrence) and muskoxen (Ovibos moschatus (Zimmermann, 1780); 39% frequency of occurrence), although we observed diet variation among the sites. A literature compilation suggested that arctic wolves (Canis lupus arctos Pocock, 1935) preferentially feed on caribou (Rangifer tarandus (Linnaeus, 1758)) and muskoxen, but can sustain themselves on arctic hares and Greenland collared lemmings (Dicrostonyx groenlandicus (Traill, 1823)) in areas with limited or no ungulate populations. We suggest that climate change may alter the dynamics among wolves, arctic hare, muskoxen, and caribou, and we encourage further studies evaluating how climate change influences predator-prey interactions in high Arctic environments.
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| 3. |
- Dalerum, Fredrik, et al.
(författare)
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Spatial variation in Arctic hare (Lepus arcticus) populations around the Hall Basin
- 2017
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Ingår i: Polar Biology. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0722-4060 .- 1432-2056. ; 40:10, s. 2113-2118
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Arctic environments have relatively simple ecosystems. Yet, we still lack knowledge of the spatio-temporal dynamics of many Arctic organisms and how they are affected by local and regional processes. The Arctic hare (Lepus arcticus) is a large lagomorph endemic to high Arctic environments in Canada and Greenland. Current knowledge about this herbivore is scarce and the temporal and spatial dynamics of their populations are poorly understood. Here, we present observations on Arctic hares in two sites on north Greenland (Hall and Washington lands) and one adjacent site on Ellesmere Island (Judge Daly Promontory). We recorded a large range of group sizes from 1 to 135 individuals, as well as a substantial variation in hare densities among the three sites (Hall land: 0 animals/100 km(2), Washington land 14.5-186.7 animals/100 km(2), Judge Daly Promontory 0.18-2.95 animals/100 km(2)). However, pellet counts suggested that both Hall land and Judge Daly Promontory hosted larger populations at other times. We suggest that our results could have been caused by three spatially differentiated populations with asynchronous population fluctuations. With food limitation being a likely driver behind the observed variation, we argue that food limitation likely interacts with predation and competition in shaping the spatial dynamics of Arctic hares in this region.
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| 4. |
- Dehasque, Marianne, et al.
(författare)
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Development and Optimization of a Silica Column-Based Extraction Protocol for Ancient DNA
- 2022
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Ingår i: Genes. - : MDPI AG. - 2073-4425. ; 13:4
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Rapid and cost-effective retrieval of endogenous DNA from ancient specimens remains a limiting factor in palaeogenomic research. Many methods have been developed to increase ancient DNA yield, but modifications to existing protocols are often based on personal experience rather than systematic testing. Here, we present a new silica column-based extraction protocol, where optimizations were tested in controlled experiments. Using relatively well-preserved permafrost samples, we tested the efficiency of pretreatment of bone and tooth powder with a bleach wash and a predigestion step. We also tested the recovery efficiency of MinElute and QIAquick columns, as well as Vivaspin columns with two molecular weight cut-off values. Finally, we tested the effect of uracil-treatment with two different USER enzyme concentrations. We find that neither bleach wash combined with a predigestion step, nor predigestion by itself, significantly increased sequencing efficiency. Initial results, however, suggest that MinElute columns are more efficient for ancient DNA extractions than QIAquick columns, whereas different molecular weight cut-off values in centrifugal concentrator columns did not have an effect. Uracil treatments are effective at removing DNA damage even at concentrations of 0.15 U/µL (as compared to 0.3 U/µL) of ancient DNA extracts.
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| 5. |
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| 6. |
- Dehasque, Marianne, et al.
(författare)
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Temporal dynamics of woolly mammoth genome erosion prior to extinction
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Annan publikation (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- A large number of species have recently recovered from near-extinction events. Understanding the genetic consequences of severe population declines followed by demographic recoveries is key to predict the long-term viability of species in order to mitigate future extinction risks. Although these species have avoided the immediate extinction threat, their long-term viability remains questionable due to the genetic consequences of population declines, which are not understood on a time scale beyond a few generations. The woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) population on Wrangel Island is an excellent model system to investigate long-term genetic consequences of a population bottleneck. Mammoths became isolated on the island in the early Holocene due to rising sea levels, and persisted for over 200 generations (~6,000 years) before becoming extinct ~4,000 years ago. To study the evolutionary processes leading up to the extinction of the woolly mammoth on the island, we analysed 21 Siberian woolly mammoth genomes, including that of one of the last known mammoths. Our results show that the Wrangel Island mammoths recovered quickly from an initially severe bottleneck, and subsequently remained demographically stable during the ensuing 6 millennia. Further, we find that highly deleterious mutations were gradually purged from the population, whereas there was an accumulation of mildly deleterious mutations. The gradual purging of highly deleterious mutations suggests an ongoing inbreeding depression that lasted for hundreds of generations. This time-lag between demographic and genetic recovery has wide-ranging implications for conservation management of recently bottlenecked present-day populations.
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| 7. |
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| 8. |
- Díez-del-Molino, David, 1984-, et al.
(författare)
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Genomics of adaptive evolution in the woolly mammoth
- 2023
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Ingår i: Current Biology. - 0960-9822 .- 1879-0445. ; 33:9, s. 1753-1764
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Ancient genomes provide a tool to investigate the genetic basis of adaptations in extinct organisms. However, the identification of species-specific fixed genetic variants requires the analysis of genomes from multiple individuals. Moreover, the long-term scale of adaptive evolution coupled with the short-term nature of tradi-tional time series data has made it difficult to assess when different adaptations evolved. Here, we analyze 23 woolly mammoth genomes, including one of the oldest known specimens at 700,000 years old, to identify fixed derived non-synonymous mutations unique to the species and to obtain estimates of when these mutations evolved. We find that at the time of its origin, the woolly mammoth had already acquired a broad spectrum of positively selected genes, including ones associated with hair and skin development, fat storage and metabolism, and immune system function. Our results also suggest that these phenotypes continued to evolve during the last 700,000 years, but through positive selection on different sets of genes. Finally, we also identify additional genes that underwent comparatively recent positive selection, including multiple genes related to skeletal morphology and body size, as well as one gene that may have contributed to the small ear size in Late Quaternary woolly mammoths.
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| 9. |
- Feuerborn, Tatiana R., et al.
(författare)
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Competitive mapping allows for the identification and exclusion of human DNA contamination in ancient faunal genomic datasets
- 2020
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Ingår i: BMC Genomics. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1471-2164. ; 21:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: After over a decade of developments in field collection, laboratory methods and advances in high-throughput sequencing, contamination remains a key issue in ancient DNA research. Currently, human and microbial contaminant DNA still impose challenges on cost-effective sequencing and accurate interpretation of ancient DNA data.Results: Here we investigate whether human contaminating DNA can be found in ancient faunal sequencing datasets. We identify variable levels of human contamination, which persists even after the sequence reads have been mapped to the faunal reference genomes. This contamination has the potential to affect a range of downstream analyses.Conclusions: We propose a fast and simple method, based on competitive mapping, which allows identifying and removing human contamination from ancient faunal DNA datasets with limited losses of true ancient data. This method could represent an important tool for the ancient DNA field.
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| 10. |
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| 11. |
- Jensen, Evelyn L., et al.
(författare)
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Ancient and historical DNA in conservation policy
- 2022
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Ingår i: Trends in Ecology & Evolution. - : Elsevier. - 0169-5347 .- 1872-8383. ; 37:5, s. 420-429
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- Although genetic diversity has been recognized as a key component of biodiversity since the first Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in 1993, it has rarely been included in conservation policies and regulations. Even less appreciated is the role that ancient and historical DNA (aDNA and hDNA, respectively) could play in unlocking the temporal dimension of genetic diversity, allowing key conservation issues to be resolved, including setting baselines for intraspecies genetic diversity, estimating changes in effective population size (N-e), and identifying the genealogical continuity of populations. Here, we discuss how genetic information from ancient and historical specimens can play a central role in preserving biodiversity and highlight specific conservation policies that could incorporate such data to help countries meet their CBD obligations.
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| 12. |
- Kirillova, Irina V., et al.
(författare)
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'Semi-dwarf' woolly mammoths from the East Siberian Sea coast, continental Russia
- 2020
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Ingår i: Boreas. - : Wiley. - 0300-9483 .- 1502-3885. ; 49:2, s. 269-285
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A pioneer comprehensive study of several diminutive last-generation woolly mammoth teeth (M3) found on the coast of the East Siberian Sea between the mouths of the Alazeya and Malaya Kuropatoch'ya rivers was conducted. Two teeth belonged to one individual. These teeth have a similar lamellar frequency and enamel thickness as teeth of Mammuthus primigenius Blumenbach. The molar crowns from the lower Alazeya region are similar in size to those of the small Late Pleistocene-Holocene mammoths from Wrangel Island. However, the number of plates (17-19, excluding talons) is much lower than that in the teeth of typical Late Pleistocene M. primigenius (23-25). The age data of the examined teeth are beyond the limits of the C-14 dating method (>45 000 years BP). Nevertheless, palaeobotanical data allow correlation of the enclosing sediments with the warm Kazantsevo Interglacial (Eemian, MIS 5e) and reconstruction of the average annual temperature, which was warmer than present-day temperatures. These conditions are confirmed by the delta O-18 isotopes from the structurally bound carbonate in tooth enamel. The ancient landscape was wetter and more forested than modern landscapes. The diminution of M3 size and loss of posterior plates were a result of the overall decrease in body size, likely in response to landscape change and narrowing of resource space. Mammoths from the lower Alazeya region demonstrate a stage of significant size reduction, although the dwarfing was not finalized. Their teeth are the oldest amongst the small teeth found in west Beringia.
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| 13. |
- Koren, Lee, et al.
(författare)
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Testosterone in ancient hair from an extinct species
- 2018
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Ingår i: Palaeontology. - : Wiley. - 0031-0239 .- 1475-4983. ; 61:6, s. 797-802
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Testosterone is a key regulator in vertebrate development, physiology and behaviour. Whereas technology allows extraction of a wealth of genetic information from extant as well as extinct species, complementary information on steroid hormone levels may add a social, sexual and environmental context. Hair shafts have been previously used to sequence DNA from >50000 C-14 years old Siberian woolly mammoths (Mammuthus primigenius). Hair-testing has also been used to measure endogenous steroids in multiple extant species. Here we use small quantities of woolly mammoth hair samples to measure testosterone, and a genomics-based approach to determine sex, in permafrost-preserved mammoths dated to c. 10000-60000 C-14 years. Our validated method opens up exciting opportunities to measure multiple steroids in keratinized tissues from extinct populations of mammals. This may be specifically applied to investigating life histories, including the extinct Quaternary megafauna populations whose remains are preserved in the permafrost throughout the northern hemisphere.
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| 14. |
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| 15. |
- Pečnerová, Patrícia, et al.
(författare)
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A Skull Might Lie : Modeling Ancestral Ranges and Diet from Genes and Shape of Tree Squirrels
- 2015
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Ingår i: Systematic Biology. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 1063-5157 .- 1076-836X. ; 64:6, s. 1074-1088
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Tropical forests of Central and South America represent hotspots of biological diversity. Tree squirrels of the tribe Sciurini are an excellent model system for the study of tropical biodiversity as these squirrels disperse exceptional distances, and after colonizing the tropics of the Central and South America, they have diversified rapidly. Here, we compare signals from DNA sequences with morphological signals using pictures of skulls and computational simulations. Phylogenetic analyses reveal step-wise geographic divergence across the Northern Hemisphere. In Central and South America, tree squirrels form two separate clades, which split from a common ancestor. Simulations of ancestral distributions show western Amazonia as the epicenter of speciation in South America. This finding suggests that wet tropical forests on the foothills of Andes possibly served as refugia of squirrel diversification during Pleistocene climatic oscillations. Comparison of phylogeny and morphology reveals one major discrepancy: Microsciurus species are a single clade morphologically but are polyphyletic genetically. Modeling of morphology-diet relationships shows that the only group of species with a direct link between skull shape and diet are the bark-gleaning insectivorous species of Microsciurus. This finding suggests that the current designation of Microsciurus as a genus is based on convergent ecologically driven changes in morphology.
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| 16. |
- Pečnerová, Patrícia, et al.
(författare)
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Changes in variation at the MHC class II DQA locus during the final demise of the woolly mammoth
- 2016
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Ingår i: Scientific Reports. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2045-2322. ; 6
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- According to the nearly-neutral theory of evolution, the relative strengths of selection and drift shift in favour of drift at small population sizes. Numerous studies have analysed the effect of bottlenecks and small population sizes on genetic diversity in the MHC, which plays a central role in pathogen recognition and immune defense and is thus considered a model example for the study of adaptive evolution. However, to understand changes in genetic diversity at loci under selection, it is necessary to compare the genetic diversity of a population before and after the bottleneck. In this study, we analyse three fragments of the MHC DQA gene in woolly mammoth samples radiocarbon dated to before and after a well-documented bottleneck that took place about ten thousand years ago. Our results indicate a decrease in observed heterozygosity and number of alleles, suggesting that genetic drift had an impact on the variation on MHC. Based on coalescent simulations, we found no evidence of balancing selection maintaining MHC diversity during the Holocene. However, strong trans-species polymorphism among mammoths and elephants points to historical effects of balancing selection on the woolly mammoth lineage.
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| 17. |
- Pečnerová, Patrícia, et al.
(författare)
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Genome-Based Sexing Provides Clues about Behavior and Social Structure in the Woolly Mammoth
- 2017
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Ingår i: Current Biology. - : Elsevier BV. - 0960-9822 .- 1879-0445. ; 27:22, s. 3505-3510.e3
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- While present-day taxa are valuable proxies for understanding the biology of extinct species, it is also crucial to examine physical remains in order to obtain a more comprehensive view of their behavior, social structure, and life histories [1, 2]. For example, information on demographic parameters such as age distribution and sex ratios in fossil assemblages can be used to accurately infer socioecological patterns (e.g., [3]). Here we use genomic data to determine the sex of 98 woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) specimens in order to infer social and behavioral patterns in the last 60,000 years of the species' existence. We report a significant excess of males among the identified samples (69% versus 31%; p < 0.0002). We argue that this male bias among mammoth remains is best explained by males more often being caught in natural traps that favor preservation. Wehypothesize that this is a consequence of social structure in proboscideans, which is characterized by matriarchal hierarchy and sex segregation. Without the experience associated with living in a matriarchal family group, or a bachelor group with an experienced bull, young or solitary males may have been more prone to die in natural traps where good preservation is more likely.
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| 18. |
- Pečnerová, Patrícia, 1990-
(författare)
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Genomic analysis of the process leading up to the extinction of the woolly mammoth
- 2018
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Species worldwide are subject to contractions in both abundance and geographical range, and their persistence in a changing environment may thus depend on the ability to survive in small and fragmented populations. Despite the urgent need to understand how extinction works, our knowledge of pre-extinction genetic processes is limited because techniques allowing population and conservation genomics to be studied in wild threatened populations have become available only recently. In this thesis, I used the last surviving population of the woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) as a model for studying pre-extinction population dynamics. I used ancient DNA as a tool to study microevolutionary processes in real time, analysing genetic changes in response to environmental shifts at the end of the last Ice Age and exploring impacts of genetic drift and inbreeding as woolly mammoths became isolated on Wrangel Island and survived for 6000 years at small population size. Using mitochondrial genomes, I found evidence of a founder effect that decreased the maternal diversity to a single lineage at the time when mammoths became trapped on Wrangel Island (~10,500 years ago). Moreover, a two- to three-fold higher mitochondrial mutation rate in Holocene and a fixed, potentially detrimental mutation in the ATP6 gene encoding for one of the key enzymes of the oxidative phosphorylation pathway, is consistent with the hypothesis that selection is less effective in removing deleterious mutations in small populations. A loss of diversity was also observed in an immunity gene that belongs to the major histocompatibility complex (MHC), even though the MHC is considered to be under balancing selection. Low-coverage genomic data was analysed in order to estimate endogenous DNA content and molecular sex of the mammoth samples. The observation of a male bias (69%) in the sex ratio led to the conclusion that male mammoths were more likely to die in a way that ensured good preservation. Another potential way of getting information about life history strategies of extinct species, which was explored here, is by measuring testosterone levels in mammoth hair shafts in connection with molecular sex inference. Finally, given that previous estimates have suggested a very small Holocene effective population size on Wrangel Island and thus that the population may have been too small to avoid genome erosion, four mammoths were sequenced to a high coverage in order to look for genomic consequences of small population size. When compared to mammoths from the Pleistocene mainland population, Wrangel Island mammoths had lower levels of genome-wide diversity and had a higher proportion of their genomes allocated in runs of homozygosity, which are large fragments completely depleted of diversity. Importantly, genome erosion appears to have accelerated in the last ten generations before the extinction, resulting in the last known woolly mammoth having almost 40% of its genome without any genetic diversity. Overall, these results highlight how genetic drift and inbreeding triggered genomic deterioration in the last surviving woolly mammoth population. Although Wrangel Island was a refugium, where mammoths survived for thousands of years after the last Ice Age, and the causal factors of the final extinction are not yet clear, isolation and small population size without any possibility of new gene flow may have contributed to reduced fitness, and thus to extinction.
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| 19. |
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| 20. |
- Pečnerová, Patrícia, et al.
(författare)
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Mitogenome evolution in the last surviving woolly mammoth population reveals neutral and functional consequences of small population size
- 2017
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Ingår i: Evolution Letters. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 2056-3744. ; 1:6, s. 292-303
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The onset of the Holocene was associated with a global temperature increase, which led to a rise in sea levels and isolation of the last surviving population of woolly mammoths on Wrangel Island. Understanding what happened with the population's genetic diversity at the time of the isolation and during the ensuing 6000 years can help clarify the effects of bottlenecks and subsequent limited population sizes in species approaching extinction. Previous genetic studies have highlighted questions about how the Holocene Wrangel population was established and how the isolation event affected genetic diversity. Here, we generated high-quality mitogenomes from 21 radiocarbon-dated woolly mammoths to compare the ancestral large and genetically diverse Late Pleistocene Siberian population and the small Holocene Wrangel population. Our results indicate that mitogenome diversity was reduced to one single haplotype at the time of the isolation, and thus that the Holocene Wrangel Island population was established by a single maternal lineage. Moreover, we show that the ensuing small effective population size coincided with fixation of a nonsynonymous mutation, and a comparative analysis of mutation rates suggests that the evolutionary rate was accelerated in the Holocene population. These results suggest that isolation on Wrangel Island led to an increase in the frequency of deleterious genetic variation, and thus are consistent with the hypothesis that strong genetic drift in small populations leads to purifying selection being less effective in removing deleterious mutations.
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| 21. |
- Pečnerová, Patrícia, et al.
(författare)
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Population genomics of the muskox' resilience in the near absence of genetic variation
- 2024
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Ingår i: Molecular Ecology. - 0962-1083 .- 1365-294X. ; 33:2
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Genomic studies of species threatened by extinction are providing crucial information about evolutionary mechanisms and genetic consequences of population declines and bottlenecks. However, to understand how species avoid the extinction vortex, insights can be drawn by studying species that thrive despite past declines. Here, we studied the population genomics of the muskox (Ovibos moschatus), an Ice Age relict that was at the brink of extinction for thousands of years at the end of the Pleistocene yet appears to be thriving today. We analysed 108 whole genomes, including present-day individuals representing the current native range of both muskox subspecies, the white-faced and the barren-ground muskox (O. moschatus wardi and O. moschatus moschatus) and a ~21,000-year-old ancient individual from Siberia. We found that the muskox' demographic history was profoundly shaped by past climate changes and post-glacial re-colonizations. In particular, the white-faced muskox has the lowest genome-wide heterozygosity recorded in an ungulate. Yet, there is no evidence of inbreeding depression in native muskox populations. We hypothesize that this can be explained by the effect of long-term gradual population declines that allowed for purging of strongly deleterious mutations. This study provides insights into how species with a history of population bottlenecks, small population sizes and low genetic diversity survive against all odds.
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| 22. |
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| 23. |
- van der Valk, Tom, et al.
(författare)
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Evolutionary consequences of genomic deletions and insertions in the woolly mammoth genome
- 2022
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Ingår i: iScience. - : Elsevier BV. - 2589-0042. ; 25:8
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Woolly mammoths had a set of adaptations that enabled them to thrive in the Arctic environment. Many mammoth-specific single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) responsible for unique mammoth traits have been previously identified from ancient genomes. However, a multitude of other genetic variants likely contributed to woolly mammoth evolution. In this study, we sequenced two woolly mammoth genomes and combined these with previously sequenced mammoth and elephant genomes to conduct a survey of mammoth-specific deletions and indels. We find that deletions are highly enriched in non-coding regions, suggesting selection against structural variants that affect protein sequences. Nonetheless, at least 87 woolly mammoth genes contain deletions or indels that modify the coding sequence, including genes involved in skeletal morphology and hair growth. These results suggest that deletions and indels contributed to the unique phenotypic adaptations of the woolly mammoth, and were potentially critical to surviving in its natural environment.
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| 24. |
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| 25. |
- van der Valk, Tom, et al.
(författare)
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Million-year-old DNA sheds light on the genomic history of mammoths
- 2021
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Ingår i: Nature. - : Springer Nature. - 0028-0836 .- 1476-4687. ; 591:7849, s. 265-269
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Temporal genomic data hold great potential for studying evolutionary processes such as speciation. However, sampling across speciation events would, in many cases, require genomic time series that stretch well back into the Early Pleistocene subepoch. Although theoretical models suggest that DNA should survive on this timescale1, the oldest genomic data recovered so far are from a horse specimen dated to 780–560 thousand years ago2. Here we report the recovery of genome-wide data from three mammoth specimens dating to the Early and Middle Pleistocene subepochs, two of which are more than one million years old. We find that two distinct mammoth lineages were present in eastern Siberia during the Early Pleistocene. One of these lineages gave rise to the woolly mammoth and the other represents a previously unrecognized lineage that was ancestral to the first mammoths to colonize North America. Our analyses reveal that the Columbian mammoth of North America traces its ancestry to a Middle Pleistocene hybridization between these two lineages, with roughly equal admixture proportions. Finally, we show that the majority of protein-coding changes associated with cold adaptation in woolly mammoths were already present one million years ago. These findings highlight the potential of deep-time palaeogenomics to expand our understanding of speciation and long-term adaptive evolution.
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