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Edited by Francisco J. Ayala, University of California, Irvine, CA, and approved April 17, 2008 (received for review March 7, 2008)
Abstract
We report five new complete mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) genomes of Siberian woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius), sequenced with up to 73-fold coverage from DNA extracted from hair shaft material. Three of the sequences present the first complete mtDNA genomes of mammoth clade II. Analysis of these and 13 recently published mtDNA genomes demonstrates the existence of two apparently sympatric mtDNA clades that exhibit high interclade divergence. The analytical power afforded by the analysis of the complete mtDNA genomes reveals a surprisingly ancient coalescence age of the two clades, ≈1–2 million years, depending on the calibration technique. Furthermore, statistical analysis of the temporal distribution of the 14C ages of these and previously identified members of the two mammoth clades suggests that clade II went extinct before clade I. Modeling of protein structures failed to indicate any important functional difference between genomes belonging to the two clades, suggesting that the loss of clade II more likely is due to genetic drift than a selective sweep.
Footnotes
- bTo whom correspondence may be addressed. E-mail: mtpgilbert{at}gmail.com, webb{at}bx.psu.edu, or scs{at}bx.psu.edu
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Author contributions: M.T.P.G., W.M., and S.C.S. contributed equally to this work; M.T.P.G., A.S., W.M., and S.C.S. designed research; M.T.P.G., D.I.D., L.P.T., S.R., M.P., P.F.C., W.M., and S.C.S. performed research; A.S., T.V.K., F.S., A.T., E.W., P.I., B.B., P.G.P.E., M.G., P.K., V.N., M.N.-K., J.R.K., G.P.I., C.S.P., K.M.F., T.T.H., and S.S. contributed new reagents/analytic tools; M.T.P.G., D.I.D., A.M.L., S.Y.W.H., J.Q., A.R., C.-H.H., A.S., L.D., A.G., L.P.T., S.R., M.P., P.F.C., T.V.K., F.S., A.T., E.W., P.I., B.B., P.G.P.E., M.G., P.K., V.N., M.N.-K., W.M., and S.C.S. analyzed data; and M.T.P.G., A.M.L., S.Y.W.H., A.S., L.D., A.G., W.M., and S.C.S. wrote the paper.
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The authors declare no conflict of interest.
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This article is a PNAS Direct Submission.
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Freely available online through the PNAS open access option.
- © 2008 by The National Academy of Sciences of the USA
Intraspecific phylogenetic analysis of Siberian woolly mammoths using complete mitochondrial genomes
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