Deciphering the complete mitochondrial genome and phylogeny of the extinct cave bear in the Paleolithic painted cave of Chauvet |
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Authors: | Bon Céline Caudy Nicolas de Dieuleveult Maud Fosse Philippe Philippe Michel Maksud Frédéric Beraud-Colomb Eliane Bouzaid Eric Kefi Rym Laugier Christelle Rousseau Bernard Casane Didier van der Plicht Johannes Elalouf Jean-Marc |
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Affiliation: | Céline Bon, Nicolas Caudy, Maud de Dieuleveult, Philippe Fosse, Michel Philippe, Frédéric Maksud, Éliane Beraud-Colomb, Eric Bouzaid, Rym Kefi, Christelle Laugier, Bernard Rousseau, Didier Casane, Johannes van der Plicht, and Jean-Marc Elalouf |
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Abstract: | Retrieving a large amount of genetic information from extinct species was demonstrated feasible, but complete mitochondrial genome sequences have only been deciphered for the moa, a bird that became extinct a few hundred years ago, and for Pleistocene species, such as the woolly mammoth and the mastodon, both of which could be studied from animals embedded in permafrost. To enlarge the diversity of mitochondrial genomes available for Pleistocene species, we turned to the cave bear (Ursus spelaeus), whose only remains consist of skeletal elements. We collected bone samples from the Paleolithic painted cave of Chauvet-Pont d'Arc (France), which displays the earliest known human drawings, and contains thousands of bear remains. We selected a cave bear sternebra, radiocarbon dated to 32,000 years before present, from which we generated overlapping DNA fragments assembling into a 16,810-base pair mitochondrial genome. Together with the first mitochondrial genome for the brown bear western lineage, this study provides a statistically secured molecular phylogeny assessing the cave bear as a sister taxon to the brown bear and polar bear clade, with a divergence inferred to 1.6 million years ago. With the first mitochondrial genome for a Pleistocene carnivore to be delivered, our study establishes the Chauvet-Pont d'Arc Cave as a new reservoir for Paleogenetic studies. These molecular data enable establishing the chronology of bear speciation, and provide a helpful resource to rescue for genetic analysis archeological samples initially diagnosed as devoid of amplifiable DNA. |
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Keywords: | ancient DNA pleistocene Ursus spelaeus |
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