For the first time at tropical latitudes, scientists arranged ancient DNA from the mammoths of Colombia, the only mammoth endemic species of North and Central America. This study revealed unexpected and yet unexplained genetic differences in which these animals differ from their northern counterparts.
The Columbian mammoth (Mammuthus Columbi) towered over the parents of the wool mammoth (Mammuthus Primigenius) and even coexisted and bred. Their fossils have been found in Canada, the United States, Mexico and Central America. However, information on how they evolved in America remains unknown.
Construction of Felipe Angeles International Airport in Santa Tarcia, Mexico in 2019 discovered a vastly abundant Pleistocene (2.6 million to 11, 700 years ago) fossils, including more than 100 Colombian mammoths.
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Federico Sanchez Kinto, a paleo-oenomique scientist at the International Institute for Human Genome Research at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), said he urged people involved in the excavation to reach out to them, according to a huge amount of fossils. This ultimately led to the team’s DNA work.
When an animal dies, its DNA is rapidly degraded. This is further exacerbated by the heat. In that respect, “DNA is like ice cream,” Sanchez Quint told Live Science because it is better preserved in the cold. Nevertheless, Angeles Tavarez Guzman is a co-author and biotechnology engineer, and had “hope” about their chances, especially as other teams recently extracted ancient DNA from similarly warm climates.
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In total, scientists sequenced 61 mitochondrial genomes from 83 mammoth molars. The five radiocarbon period samples show that they range between 13,000 and 16,000 years. The study was published in the scientific journal on August 28th.
By stitching together ancient DNA, scientists can better trace the path the mammoths took throughout the Americas. However, in this case, the sequence revealed some mysterious findings.
A 2021 study shows that it was crossed 800,000-400,000 years ago to acquire the Colomboa mammoth species before crossing a previously unknown lineage (icy overpass) of the Eurasian prairie mammoth (Mammuthus trogontherii), which was mated with the robe-like mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius).
One theory is that the Colombian mammoths continued to move south until they finally reached what is now Mexico. This is a theory demonstrated by finding animals with similar DNA in both Mexico and Northern countries.
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But instead, the team revealed evidence that the mammoths in Colombia in Mexico are genetically distinct from the mammoths in the US and Canada. In other words, the Colombian mammoths in Mexico are the same species as the Colombian mammoths in the US and Canada, but their specific genetic makeup is different.
The team also discovered that the common ancestors of the Colombian mammoths in Mexico migrated to the US and Canada and diverged much faster than those that remained.
Research co-author Eduardo Arrieta-Donato, a researcher at UNAM’s International Institute for Human Genome Research, proposed to consider its common ancestor to be the great, great, great grandmother of the Mexican mammoth. “[She] He said. He said. He said. As her grandchildren bred and migrated south, they may have been isolated from other North American mammoths.
Its uniqueness states that the evolution of the Colombian mammoth was “a lot more complicated than we thought,” Sanchez Kinto said, “Mexico has important genetic variations that do not exist anywhere else.”
Interestingly, other Pleistocene species excavated in Mexico also exhibit a diverse genetic lineage compared to the Northern Parent s. For example, genetic variations are also seen in Pleistocene black slug (Ursus americanus), which are mastodons, which are elephants-like mastodons, relative extinct types of elephants. It is surprising that one species with genetic variation separates from its northern counterpart. Three species showing similar genetic distinctions indicate that something extraordinary happened when the species moved south.
The new study “supposes some new and very interesting questions,” said Love Darun, professor of evolutionary genetics at the Paleogenic Centre at Stockholm University, who was not involved in the study.
Editor’s Note: This article was updated at 4:50am on September 11th, revising the dates that mammoths lived between 13,000 and 16,000 years ago.
“I was very impressed that Federico and his colleagues had obtained DNA from such a significantly degraded sample!” he told Live Science via email. “Getting DNA from tropical Late Pleistocene samples is a feat of a mammoth!”
Tavares-Guzmán, Arrieta-Donato and Sánchez-Quinto focused on two important aspects of their paper. First, successful extraction of ancient DNA in Mexico challenges the expectations that DNA is unlikely to be extracted in warmer climates. Second, their research shows that there is no need to export DNA analysis to other countries. “The labs at Global South have all the capabilities to carry out these projects,” Sanchez Kint said. “What we sometimes lack is money.”
New research suggests that Mexican species appear to be unique. However, to discover exactly why it is, more DNA samples must be obtained from the wider geographical distribution. “This is more than justification to screen further biodiversity that is happening in the tropics over time,” Sanchez Kint said.
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