Ancient DNA Reveals Maternal Philopatry of the Northeast Eurasian Brown Bear ( Ursus arctos ) Population during the Holocene

• Published in: Genes
• Main Authors: Eugenia Boulygina, Fedor Sharko, Maksim Cheprasov, Maria Gladysheva-Azgari, Natalia Slobodova, Svetlana Tsygankova, Sergey Rastorguev, Lena Grigorieva, Martina Kopp, Jorge M. O. Fernandes, Gavril Novgorodov, Gennady Boeskorov, Albert Protopopov, Woo-Suk Hwang, Alexei Tikhonov, Artem Nedoluzhko
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2022
• Subjects: brown bear; Ursus arctos; Holocene; ancient DNA; mitogenome; sequencing; Genetics; QH426-470; Chukotka; Yakutia
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.3390/genes13111961; https://doaj.org/article/5d108948952142a8bd39d4309115e679

Significant palaeoecological and paleoclimatic changes that took place during Late Pleistocene—Early Holocene transition are considered important factors that led to megafauna extinctions. Unlike many other species, the brown bear ( Ursus arctos ) has survived this geological time. Despite the fact that several mitochondrial DNA clades of brown bears became extinct at the end of the Pleistocene, this species is still widely distributed in Northeast Eurasia. Here, using the ancient DNA analysis of a brown bear individual that inhabited Northeast Asia in the Middle Holocene (3460 ± 40 years BP) and comparative phylogenetic analysis, we show a significant mitochondrial DNA similarity of the studied specimen with modern brown bears inhabiting Yakutia and Chukotka. In this study, we clearly demonstrate the maternal philopatry of the Northeastern Eurasian U. arctos population during the several thousand years of the Holocene.