pigmy elephants; ancient DNA; molecular phylogeny; whole genome amplification
Abstract :
[en] Pigmy elephants inhabited the islands from the Mediterranean region during the Pleistocene period but became extinct in the course of the Holocene. Despite striking distinctive anatomical characteristics related to insularity, some similarities with the lineage of extant Asian elephants have suggested that pigmy elephants could be most probably seen as members of the genus Elephas. Poulakakis et al. (2006) have recently challenged this view by recovering a short mtDNA sequence from an 800 000 year old fossil of the Cretan pigmy elephant (Elephas creticus). According to the authors of this study, a deep taxonomic revision of Cretan dwarf elephants would be needed, as the sequence exhibits clear affinities with woolly mammoth haplotypes. However, we point here many aspects that seriously weaken the strength of the ancient DNA evidence reported.
Disciplines :
Life sciences: Multidisciplinary, general & others
Author, co-author :
Orlando, Ludovic; Laboratoire de Biologie Moléculaire de la Cellule, Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon
Pagès, Marie ; Laboratoire de Biologie Moléculaire de la Cellule, Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon
Calvignac, Sébastien; Laboratoire de Biologie Moléculaire de la Cellule, Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon
Hughes, Sandrine; Laboratoire de Biologie Moléculaire de la Cellule, Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon
Hänni, Catherine; Laboratoire de Biologie Moléculaire de la Cellule, Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon
Language :
English
Title :
Does the 43 bp sequence from an 800 000 year old Cretan dwarf elephantid really rewrite the textbook on mammoths?
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