Deciphering the complete mitochondrial genome and phylogeny of the extinct cave bear in the Paleolithic painted cave of Chauvet

摘要: 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, bird that became few hundred years ago, and Pleistocene species, such as woolly mammoth mastodon, both which could be studied animals embedded in permafrost. To enlarge diversity genomes available we turned to cave bear (Ursus spelaeus), whose remains consist skeletal elements. We collected bone samples Paleolithic painted Chauvet-Pont d'Arc (France), displays earliest known human drawings, contains thousands remains. selected sternebra, radiocarbon dated 32,000 before present, generated overlapping DNA fragments assembling into 16,810-base pair genome. Together with first brown western lineage, this study provides statistically secured molecular phylogeny assessing sister taxon polar clade, divergence inferred 1.6 million ago. With carnivore delivered, our establishes Cave new reservoir Paleogenetic studies. These data enable establishing chronology speciation, provide helpful resource rescue analysis archeological initially diagnosed devoid amplifiable DNA.