Genomic Sequencing of Pleistocene Cave Bears

Despite the greater information content of genomic DNA, ancient DNA studies have largely been limited to the amplification of mitochondrial sequences. Here we describe metagenomic libraries constructed with unamplified DNA extracted from skeletal remains of two 40,000-year-old extinct cave bears. An...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) 2005-07, Vol.309 (5734), p.597-600
Main Authors: Noonan, James P., Hofreiter, Michael, Smith, Doug, Priest, James R., Rohland, Nadin, Rabeder, Gernot, Krause, Johannes, Detter, J. Chris, Pääbo, Svante, Rubin, Edward M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Bears
Brown bears
Caves
Cloning, Molecular
Computational Biology
Computer Peripherals
Construction (Process)
Deoxyribonucleic acid
DNA
DNA - genetics
DNA - history
Dogs
Dogs - genetics
Earth sciences
Earth, ocean, space
Endangered & extinct species
Exact sciences and technology
Extinct animals
Genetic aspects
Genome
Genomes
Genomic Library
Genomics
History
History, Ancient
Libraries
Molecular Sequence Data
Nucleotides
Paleontology
Phylogeny
Polar bears
Sequence Alignment
Sequence Analysis, DNA
Ursidae - genetics
Ursus spelaeus
Vertebrate paleontology
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Description
Summary:Despite the greater information content of genomic DNA, ancient DNA studies have largely been limited to the amplification of mitochondrial sequences. Here we describe metagenomic libraries constructed with unamplified DNA extracted from skeletal remains of two 40,000-year-old extinct cave bears. Analysis of ~1 megabase of sequence from each library showed that despite significant microbial contamination, 5.8 and 1.1% of clones contained cave bear inserts, yielding 26,861 base pairs of cave bear genome sequence. Comparison of cave bear and modern bear sequences revealed the evolutionary relationship of these lineages. The metagenomic approach used here establishes the feasibility of ancient DNA genome sequencing programs.
ISSN:0036-8075
1095-9203
DOI:10.1126/science.1113485