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. 2006 Dec 22;2(4):601-3.
doi: 10.1098/rsbl.2006.0515.

Typing single polymorphic nucleotides in mitochondrial DNA as a way to access Middle Pleistocene DNA

Cristina Valdiosera  1 , Nuria García, Love Dalén, Colin Smith, Ralf-Dietrich Kahlke, Kerstin Lidén, Anders Angerbjörn, Juan Luis Arsuaga, Anders Götherström
Affiliations

Typing single polymorphic nucleotides in mitochondrial DNA as a way to access Middle Pleistocene DNA

Cristina Valdiosera et al. Biol Lett. .

Abstract

In this study, we have used a technique designed to target short fragments containing informative mitochondrial substitutions to extend the temporal limits of DNA recovery and study the molecular phylogeny of Ursus deningeri. We present a cladistic analysis using DNA recovered from 400 kyr old U. deningeri remains, which demonstrates U. deningeri's relation to Ursus spelaeus. This study extends the limits of recovery from skeletal remains by almost 300 kyr. Plant material from permafrost environments has yielded DNA of this age in earlier studies, and our data suggest that DNA in teeth from cave environments may be equally well preserved.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
(a) Phylogenetic position of Ursus deningeri. Maximum parsimony tree using molecular data from cytochrome b. The grouping of U. deningeri and U. spelaeus was well supported (1000 replicates). (b) Sites for the caves with bear samples. (c) Out of 25 samples, 20 yielded bear DNA, out of which 5 yielded all 16 polymorphic sites.
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