Phylogeography of the woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) in the Minusinsk Depression of southern Siberia in the Late Pleistocene

TL;DR

This study explores the genetic diversity and migration patterns of woolly mammoths in southern Siberia during the Late Pleistocene.

Contribution

The study provides new insights into the genetic diversity and phylogeography of woolly mammoths in the Minusinsk Depression of southern Siberia.

Findings

Phylogenetic analysis placed all studied mammoths in clade I, indicating a shared lineage.

Mammoths in the Minusinsk Depression showed genetic diversity within clade I.

Phylogeographic reconstructions suggest genetic proximity to eastern Siberian mammoths and divergence around 100–150 thousand years ago.

Abstract

To date, a number of studies have been published on the phylogenetics of woolly mammoths (Mammuthus
primigenius), ranging from analyses of parts of the mitochondrial genome to studies of complete nuclear genomes.
However, until recently nothing was known about the genetic diversity of woolly mammoths in southern Siberia, in
the Minusinsk Depression in particular. Within the framework of this effort, libraries for high-throughput sequencing
of seven
bone samples of woolly mammoths were obtained, two-round enrichment using biotinylated probes of modern
mtDNA of Elephas maximus immobilised on magnetic microspheres and sequencing with subsequent bioinformatic
analysis were carried out. Phylogenetic reconstructions showed the presence of all studied mammoths in clade
I, which expanded its range. The assignment of mammoth mitotypes in the Minusinsk Depression to different clusters
within clade I may indicate a sufficiently high diversity of their gene pool. Phylogeographic reconstructions revealed
a genetic proximity
of mitochondrial lineages of Late Pleistocene mammoths of the Minusinsk Depression and other
regions of eastern Siberia and estimated their divergence time in the range of 100–150 thousand years ago, which
indicates active migrations of woolly mammoths over vast territories of eastern Siberia in the late Middle Pleistoceneearly
Late Pleistocene.

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