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MacPhee, R.D.* ; Tikhonov, A.N.* ; Mol, D.* ; Greenwood, A.D.

Late quaternary loss of genetic diversity in muskox (Ovibos).

BMC Evol. Biol. 5:49 (2005)
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BACKGROUND: The modern wildherd of the tundra muskox (Ovibos moschatus) is native only to the New World (northern North America and Greenland), and its genetic diversity is notably low. However, like several other megafaunal mammals, muskoxen enjoyed a holarctic distribution during the late Pleistocene. To investigate whether collapse in range and loss of diversity might be correlated, we collected mitochondrial sequence data (hypervariable region and cytochrome b) from muskox fossil material recovered from localities in northeastern Asia and the Arctic Archipelago of northern North America, dating from late Pleistocene to late Holocene, and compared our results to existing databases for modern muskoxen. RESULTS: Two classes of haplotypes were detected in the fossil material. "Surviving haplotypes" (SHs), closely similar or identical to haplotypes found in modern muskoxen and ranging in age from approximately 22,000 to approximately 160 yrbp, were found in all New World samples as well as some samples from northeastern Asia. "Extinct haplotypes" (EHs), dating between approximately 44,000 and ~18,000 yrbp, were found only in material from the Taimyr Peninsula and New Siberian Islands in northeastern Asia. EHs were not found in the Holocene muskoxen specimens available for this study, nor have they been found in other studies of extant muskox populations. CONCLUSION: We provisionally interpret this evidence as showing that genetic variability was reduced in muskoxen after the Last Glacial Maximum but before the mid-Holocene, or roughly within the interval 18,000-4,000 yrbp. Narrowing this gap further will require the recovery of more fossils and additional genetic information from this interval.
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Publication type Article: Journal article
Document type Scientific Article
Keywords MITOCHONDRIAL-DNA; ANCIENT DNA; POPULATION-GENETICS; EXTINCTION DYNAMICS; LEMMINGS LEMMUS; WOOLLY MAMMOTH; SEQUENCES; EVOLUTION; PLEISTOCENE; MEGAFAUNA
Language english
Publication Year 2005
HGF-reported in Year 2005
e-ISSN 1471-2148
Quellenangaben Volume: 5, Issue: , Pages: , Article Number: 49 Supplement: ,
Publisher BioMed Central
Reviewing status Peer reviewed
POF-Topic(s) 30203 - Molecular Targets and Therapies
Research field(s) Immune Response and Infection
PSP Element(s) G-502700-001
PubMed ID 16209705
Scopus ID 27744438084
Erfassungsdatum 2005-12-31