Genomic evidence for island population conversion resolves conflicting theories of polar bear evolution

Despite extensive genetic analysis, the evolutionary relationship between polar bears (Ursus maritimus) and brown bears (U. arctos) remains unclear. The two most recent comprehensive reports indicate a recent divergence with little subsequent admixture or a much more ancient divergence followed by e...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PLoS genetics 2013-03, Vol.9 (3), p.e1003345
Main Authors: Cahill, James A, Green, Richard E, Fulton, Tara L, Stiller, Mathias, Jay, Flora, Ovsyanikov, Nikita, Salamzade, Rauf, St John, John, Stirling, Ian, Slatkin, Montgomery, Shapiro, Beth
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal behavior
Animal populations
Animals
Biological Evolution
Biology
Climate Change
DNA, Mitochondrial - genetics
Evolution
Female
Gene Flow
Genealogy
Genes
Genetic aspects
Genome
Genomes
Genomics
Haplotypes
Hybridization
Male
Mitochondrial DNA
Phylogeny
Physiological aspects
Polar bear
Polar bears
Population
Population genetics
Regions
Studies
Ursidae - genetics
Ursus maritimus
X Chromosome
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Summary:Despite extensive genetic analysis, the evolutionary relationship between polar bears (Ursus maritimus) and brown bears (U. arctos) remains unclear. The two most recent comprehensive reports indicate a recent divergence with little subsequent admixture or a much more ancient divergence followed by extensive admixture. At the center of this controversy are the Alaskan ABC Islands brown bears that show evidence of shared ancestry with polar bears. We present an analysis of genome-wide sequence data for seven polar bears, one ABC Islands brown bear, one mainland Alaskan brown bear, and a black bear (U. americanus), plus recently published datasets from other bears. Surprisingly, we find clear evidence for gene flow from polar bears into ABC Islands brown bears but no evidence of gene flow from brown bears into polar bears. Importantly, while polar bears contributed
ISSN:1553-7404
1553-7390
1553-7404
DOI:10.1371/journal.pgen.1003345