Short sequence effect of ancient DNA on mammoth phylogenetic analyses

• Published in: Frontiers of earth science 2009-03, Vol.3 (1), p.100-106
• Main Authors: SHENG, Guilian, WU, Lianjuan, HOU, Xindong, YUAN, Junxia, CHENG, Shenghong, ZHONG, Bojian, LAI, Xulong
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: ancient mitochondrial DNA; cytochrome b (cyt b) gene; Deoxyribonucleic acid; DNA; Earth and Environmental Science; Earth Sciences; Elephantidae; Elephants; Genes; Mammuthus primigenius; phylogenetic analysis; Pleistocene; Prehistoric era; Research Article; Studies
• ISSN: 2095-0195; 1673-7385; 2095-0209; 1673-7490
• DOI: 10.1007/s11707-009-0010-z

The evolution of Elephantidae has been intensively studied in the past few years, especially after 2006. The molecular approaches have made great contribution to the assumption that the extinct woolly mammoth has a close relationship with the Asian elephant instead of the African elephant. In this study, partial ancient DNA sequences of cytochrome b (cyt b) gene in mitochondrial genome were successfully retrieved from Late Pleistocene Mammuthus primigenius bones collected from Heilongjiang Province in Northeast China. Both the partial and complete homologous cyt b gene sequences and the whole mitochondrial genome sequences extracted from GenBank were aligned and used as datasets for phylogenetic analyses. All of the phylogenetic trees, based on either the partial or the complete cyt b gene, reject the relationship constructed by the whole mitochondrial genome, showing the occurrence of an effect of sequence length of cyt b gene on mammoth phylogenetic analyses.