TY - JOUR

T1 - Partial genomic survival of cave bears in living brown bears.

AU - Barlow, Axel

AU - Cahill, James A.

AU - Hartmann, Stefanie

AU - Theunert, Christoph

AU - Xenikoudakis, Georgios

AU - Fortes, Gloria G.

AU - Paijmans, Johanna

AU - Rabeder, Gernot

AU - Frischauf, Christine

AU - Grandal-d'Anglade, Aurora

AU - García-Vázquez, Ana

AU - Murtskhvaladze, Marine

AU - Saarma, Urmas

AU - Anijalg, Peeter

AU - Skrbinšek, Tomaz

AU - Bertorelle, Giorgio

AU - Gasparian, Boris

AU - Bar-Oz, Guy

AU - Pinhasi, Ron

AU - Slatkin, Montgomery

AU - Dalén, Love

AU - Shapiro, Beth

AU - Hofreiter, Michael

PY - 2018/8/27

Y1 - 2018/8/27

N2 - Although many large mammal species went extinct at the end of the Pleistocene epoch, their DNA may persist due to past episodes of interspecies admixture. However, direct empirical evidence of the persistence of ancient alleles remains scarce. Here, we present multifold coverage genomic data from four Late Pleistocene cave bears (Ursus spelaeus complex) and show that cave bears hybridized with brown bears (Ursus arctos) during the Pleistocene. We develop an approach to assess both the directionality and relative timing of gene flow. We find that segments of cave bear DNA still persist in the genomes of living brown bears, with cave bears contributing 0.9 to 2.4% of the genomes of all brown bears investigated. Our results show that even though extinction is typically considered as absolute, following admixture, fragments of the gene pool of extinct species can survive for tens of thousands of years in the genomes of extant recipient species.

AB - Although many large mammal species went extinct at the end of the Pleistocene epoch, their DNA may persist due to past episodes of interspecies admixture. However, direct empirical evidence of the persistence of ancient alleles remains scarce. Here, we present multifold coverage genomic data from four Late Pleistocene cave bears (Ursus spelaeus complex) and show that cave bears hybridized with brown bears (Ursus arctos) during the Pleistocene. We develop an approach to assess both the directionality and relative timing of gene flow. We find that segments of cave bear DNA still persist in the genomes of living brown bears, with cave bears contributing 0.9 to 2.4% of the genomes of all brown bears investigated. Our results show that even though extinction is typically considered as absolute, following admixture, fragments of the gene pool of extinct species can survive for tens of thousands of years in the genomes of extant recipient species.

U2 - 10.1038/s41559-018-0654-8

DO - 10.1038/s41559-018-0654-8

M3 - Article

VL - 2

SP - 1563

EP - 1570

JO - Nature Ecology and Evolution

JF - Nature Ecology and Evolution

SN - 2397-334X

ER -