Cited by 194Genetic diversity and population structureEvolution and Paleontology StudiesGenomics and Phylogenetic Studies

Complete mitochondrial genome of a Pleistocene jawbone unveils the origin of polar bear

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Lindqvist, Charlotte, Schuster, Stephan C., Sun, Yazhou, Talbot, Sandra L., Qi, Ji, Ratan, Aakrosh, Tomsho, Lynn P., Kasson, Lindsay +6 more·2010·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Abstract

The polar bear has become the flagship species in the climate-change discussion. However, little is known about how past climate impacted its evolution and persistence, given an extremely poor fossil record. Although it is undisputed from analyses of mitochondrial (mt) DNA that polar bears constitute a lineage within the genetic diversity of brown bears, timing estimates of their divergence have differed considerably. Using next-generation sequencing technology, we have generated a complete, high-quality mt genome from a stratigraphically validated 130,000- to 110,000-year-old polar bear jawbone. In addition, six mt genomes were generated of extant polar bears from Alaska and brown bears from the Admiralty and Baranof islands of the Alexander Archipelago of southeastern Alaska and Kodiak Island. We show that the phylogenetic position of the ancient polar bear lies almost directly at the branching point between polar bears and brown bears, elucidating a unique morphologically and molecularly documented fossil link between living mammal species. Molecular dating and stable isotope analyses also show that by very early in their evolutionary history, polar bears were already inhabitants of the Artic sea ice and had adapted very rapidly to their current and unique ecology at the top of the Arctic marine food chain. As such, polar bears provide an excellent example of evolutionary opportunism within a widespread mammalian lineage.

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Crossref · 10.1073/pnas.0914266107

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  • Stable isotope analysis of an ancient jawbone from Svalbard indicates that polar bears were adapted to a marine diet and life in the high Arctic by at least 110 kya.

    “stable isotope analysis of an ancient jawbone from Svalbard that indicates that polar bears were adapted to a marine diet and life in the high Arctic by at least 110 kya (Lindqvist et al., 2010)”

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Authors
Lindqvist, C., Schuster, S. C., Sun, Y., Talbot, S. L., Qi, J., Ratan, A., Tomsho, L. P., Kasson, L., Zeyl, E., Aars, J., Miller, W., Ingólfsson, Ó., Bachmann, L., & Wiig, Ø.
Affiliations
  • University at Buffalo, State University of New York (US)
  • Pennsylvania State University (US)
  • United States Geological Survey (US)
  • National Centre for Biosystematics, Natural History Museum, University of Oslo, 0318 Oslo, Norway;
  • Norwegian Polar Institute (NO)
  • Department of Earth Sciences, University of Iceland, 101 Reykjavik, Iceland; and
  • University of Oslo (NO)
Venue
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Published
2010-03
Volume
107
Issue
11
Pages
5053-5057
ISSN
  • 0027-8424 (ISSN-L)
  • 1091-6490
OpenAlex
W2096648902
Cited by
193
References
45
Citations by year
2026: 4 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 7 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 42 · 2021: 9 · 2020: 8 · 2019: 2 · 2018: 5 · 2017: 7 · 2016: 9 · 2015: 15 · 2014: 14 · 2013: 22 · 2012: 15
FWCI
10.98
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Genetic diversity and population structure
  • Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Paleontology › Evolution and Paleontology Studies
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Genomics and Phylogenetic Studies
Keywords
polar bear, brown bear, mitochondrial genome, divergence time estimation, phylogenetic position, stable isotope analysis, Kodiak Island, Alaska
MeSH terms
Animals, Base Sequence, Ursidae, Biological Evolution, Jaw, Molecular Sequence Data, Phylogeny, Time Factors, Genetic Variation, Genome, Mitochondrial

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