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Research Article

Complete mitochondrial genome of a Pleistocene jawbone unveils the origin of polar bear

Charlotte Lindqvist, Stephan C. Schuster, Yazhou Sun, Sandra L. Talbot, Ji Qi, Aakrosh Ratan, Lynn P. Tomsho, Lindsay Kasson, Eve Zeyl, Jon Aars, Webb Miller, Ólafur Ingólfsson, Lutz Bachmann, and Øystein Wiig
PNAS March 16, 2010 107 (11) 5053-5057; https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0914266107
Charlotte Lindqvist
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  • For correspondence: cl243@buffalo.edu
Stephan C. Schuster
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Yazhou Sun
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Sandra L. Talbot
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Ji Qi
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Aakrosh Ratan
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Lynn P. Tomsho
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Lindsay Kasson
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Eve Zeyl
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Jon Aars
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Webb Miller
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Ólafur Ingólfsson
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Lutz Bachmann
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Øystein Wiig
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  1. Edited* by Francisco J. Ayala, University of California, Irvine, CA, and approved January 22, 2010 (received for review December 9, 2009)

  2. ↵1C.L. and S.C.S. contributed equally to this work.

This article has a Correction. Please see:

  • Correction for Lindqvist et al., Complete mitochondrial genome of a Pleistocene jawbone unveils the origin of polar bear - March 15, 2010
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Abstract

The polar bear has become the flagship species in the climate-change discussion. However, little is known about how past climate impacted its evolution and persistence, given an extremely poor fossil record. Although it is undisputed from analyses of mitochondrial (mt) DNA that polar bears constitute a lineage within the genetic diversity of brown bears, timing estimates of their divergence have differed considerably. Using next-generation sequencing technology, we have generated a complete, high-quality mt genome from a stratigraphically validated 130,000- to 110,000-year-old polar bear jawbone. In addition, six mt genomes were generated of extant polar bears from Alaska and brown bears from the Admiralty and Baranof islands of the Alexander Archipelago of southeastern Alaska and Kodiak Island. We show that the phylogenetic position of the ancient polar bear lies almost directly at the branching point between polar bears and brown bears, elucidating a unique morphologically and molecularly documented fossil link between living mammal species. Molecular dating and stable isotope analyses also show that by very early in their evolutionary history, polar bears were already inhabitants of the Artic sea ice and had adapted very rapidly to their current and unique ecology at the top of the Arctic marine food chain. As such, polar bears provide an excellent example of evolutionary opportunism within a widespread mammalian lineage.

  • ancient DNA
  • Arctic
  • mammal evolution
  • next-generation sequencing
  • Svalbard

Footnotes

  • 2To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: cl243{at}buffalo.edu.
  • Author contributions: C.L., S.C.S., L.B., and Ø.W. designed research; C.L., S.C.S., S.L.T., L.P.T., L.K., E.Z., J.A., Ó.I., and Ø.W. performed research; C.L., S.C.S., Y.S., J.Q., A.R., and W.M. analyzed data; and C.L., Y.S., W.M., L.B., and Ø.W. wrote the paper.

  • The authors declare no conflict of interest.

  • Data deposition: The sequences reported in this paper have been deposited in the GenBank database (accession nos. GU573485‒GU573491).

  • ↵*This Direct Submission article had a prearranged editor.

  • This article contains supporting information online at www.pnas.org/cgi/content/full/0914266107/DCSupplemental.

Freely available online through the PNAS open access option.

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Complete mitochondrial genome of a Pleistocene jawbone unveils the origin of polar bear
Charlotte Lindqvist, Stephan C. Schuster, Yazhou Sun, Sandra L. Talbot, Ji Qi, Aakrosh Ratan, Lynn P. Tomsho, Lindsay Kasson, Eve Zeyl, Jon Aars, Webb Miller, Ólafur Ingólfsson, Lutz Bachmann, Øystein Wiig
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Mar 2010, 107 (11) 5053-5057; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0914266107

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Complete mitochondrial genome of a Pleistocene jawbone unveils the origin of polar bear
Charlotte Lindqvist, Stephan C. Schuster, Yazhou Sun, Sandra L. Talbot, Ji Qi, Aakrosh Ratan, Lynn P. Tomsho, Lindsay Kasson, Eve Zeyl, Jon Aars, Webb Miller, Ólafur Ingólfsson, Lutz Bachmann, Øystein Wiig
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Mar 2010, 107 (11) 5053-5057; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0914266107
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