Ancient DNA reveals multiple origins and migration waves of extinct Japanese brown bear lineages
Little is known about how mammalian biogeography on islands was affected by sea-level fluctuations. In the Japanese Archipelago, brown bears (Ursus arctos) currently inhabit only Hokkaido, the northern island, but Pleistocene fossils indicate a past distribution throughout Honshu, Japan's large...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:7062162df43b4629b0553b32b34cb14c 2023-05-15T18:42:05+02:00 Ancient DNA reveals multiple origins and migration waves of extinct Japanese brown bear lineages Takahiro Segawa Takahiro Yonezawa Hiroshi Mori Ayumi Akiyoshi Morten E. Allentoft Ayako Kohno Fuyuki Tokanai Eske Willerslev Naoki Kohno Hidenori Nishihara 2021-08-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.210518 https://doaj.org/article/7062162df43b4629b0553b32b34cb14c EN eng The Royal Society https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.210518 https://doaj.org/toc/2054-5703 doi:10.1098/rsos.210518 2054-5703 https://doaj.org/article/7062162df43b4629b0553b32b34cb14c Royal Society Open Science, Vol 8, Iss 8 (2021) ancient DNA brown bear mitochondrial genomes Pleistocene megafauna Science Q article 2021 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.210518 2022-12-31T04:28:55Z Little is known about how mammalian biogeography on islands was affected by sea-level fluctuations. In the Japanese Archipelago, brown bears (Ursus arctos) currently inhabit only Hokkaido, the northern island, but Pleistocene fossils indicate a past distribution throughout Honshu, Japan's largest island. However, the difficulty of recovering ancient DNA from fossils in temperate East Asia has limited our understanding of their evolutionary history. Here, we analysed mitochondrial DNA from a 32 500-year-old brown bear fossil from Honshu. Our results show that this individual belonged to a previously unknown lineage that split approximately 160 Ka from its sister lineage, the southern Hokkaido clade. This divergence time and fossil record suggest that brown bears migrated from the Eurasian continent to Honshu at least twice; the first population was an early-diverging lineage (greater than 340 Ka), and the second migrated via Hokkaido after approximately 160 Ka, during the ice age. Thus, glacial-age sea-level falls might have facilitated migrations of large mammals more frequently than previously thought, which may have had a substantial impact on ecosystem dynamics in these isolated islands. Article in Journal/Newspaper Ursus arctos Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Royal Society Open Science 8 8 210518 |
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Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
ancient DNA brown bear mitochondrial genomes Pleistocene megafauna Science Q |
spellingShingle |
ancient DNA brown bear mitochondrial genomes Pleistocene megafauna Science Q Takahiro Segawa Takahiro Yonezawa Hiroshi Mori Ayumi Akiyoshi Morten E. Allentoft Ayako Kohno Fuyuki Tokanai Eske Willerslev Naoki Kohno Hidenori Nishihara Ancient DNA reveals multiple origins and migration waves of extinct Japanese brown bear lineages |
topic_facet |
ancient DNA brown bear mitochondrial genomes Pleistocene megafauna Science Q |
description |
Little is known about how mammalian biogeography on islands was affected by sea-level fluctuations. In the Japanese Archipelago, brown bears (Ursus arctos) currently inhabit only Hokkaido, the northern island, but Pleistocene fossils indicate a past distribution throughout Honshu, Japan's largest island. However, the difficulty of recovering ancient DNA from fossils in temperate East Asia has limited our understanding of their evolutionary history. Here, we analysed mitochondrial DNA from a 32 500-year-old brown bear fossil from Honshu. Our results show that this individual belonged to a previously unknown lineage that split approximately 160 Ka from its sister lineage, the southern Hokkaido clade. This divergence time and fossil record suggest that brown bears migrated from the Eurasian continent to Honshu at least twice; the first population was an early-diverging lineage (greater than 340 Ka), and the second migrated via Hokkaido after approximately 160 Ka, during the ice age. Thus, glacial-age sea-level falls might have facilitated migrations of large mammals more frequently than previously thought, which may have had a substantial impact on ecosystem dynamics in these isolated islands. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Takahiro Segawa Takahiro Yonezawa Hiroshi Mori Ayumi Akiyoshi Morten E. Allentoft Ayako Kohno Fuyuki Tokanai Eske Willerslev Naoki Kohno Hidenori Nishihara |
author_facet |
Takahiro Segawa Takahiro Yonezawa Hiroshi Mori Ayumi Akiyoshi Morten E. Allentoft Ayako Kohno Fuyuki Tokanai Eske Willerslev Naoki Kohno Hidenori Nishihara |
author_sort |
Takahiro Segawa |
title |
Ancient DNA reveals multiple origins and migration waves of extinct Japanese brown bear lineages |
title_short |
Ancient DNA reveals multiple origins and migration waves of extinct Japanese brown bear lineages |
title_full |
Ancient DNA reveals multiple origins and migration waves of extinct Japanese brown bear lineages |
title_fullStr |
Ancient DNA reveals multiple origins and migration waves of extinct Japanese brown bear lineages |
title_full_unstemmed |
Ancient DNA reveals multiple origins and migration waves of extinct Japanese brown bear lineages |
title_sort |
ancient dna reveals multiple origins and migration waves of extinct japanese brown bear lineages |
publisher |
The Royal Society |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.210518 https://doaj.org/article/7062162df43b4629b0553b32b34cb14c |
genre |
Ursus arctos |
genre_facet |
Ursus arctos |
op_source |
Royal Society Open Science, Vol 8, Iss 8 (2021) |
op_relation |
https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.210518 https://doaj.org/toc/2054-5703 doi:10.1098/rsos.210518 2054-5703 https://doaj.org/article/7062162df43b4629b0553b32b34cb14c |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.210518 |
container_title |
Royal Society Open Science |
container_volume |
8 |
container_issue |
8 |
container_start_page |
210518 |
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1766231685112791040 |