Palaeogenomes of Eurasian straight-tusked elephants challenge the current view of elephant evolution
The straight-tusked elephants Palaeoloxodon spp. were widespread across Eurasia during the Pleistocene. Phylogenetic reconstructions using morphological traits have grouped them with Asian elephants (Elephas maximus), and many paleontologists place Palaeoloxodon within Elephas. Here, we report the r...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
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eLife Sciences Publications Ltd
2017-06-01
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| Series: | eLife |
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| Online Access: | https://elifesciences.org/articles/25413 |
| _version_ | 1818024044357746688 |
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| author | Matthias Meyer Eleftheria Palkopoulou Sina Baleka Mathias Stiller Kirsty E H Penkman Kurt W Alt Yasuko Ishida Dietrich Mania Swapan Mallick Tom Meijer Harald Meller Sarah Nagel Birgit Nickel Sven Ostritz Nadin Rohland Karol Schauer Tim Schüler Alfred L Roca David Reich Beth Shapiro Michael Hofreiter |
| author_facet | Matthias Meyer Eleftheria Palkopoulou Sina Baleka Mathias Stiller Kirsty E H Penkman Kurt W Alt Yasuko Ishida Dietrich Mania Swapan Mallick Tom Meijer Harald Meller Sarah Nagel Birgit Nickel Sven Ostritz Nadin Rohland Karol Schauer Tim Schüler Alfred L Roca David Reich Beth Shapiro Michael Hofreiter |
| author_sort | Matthias Meyer |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The straight-tusked elephants Palaeoloxodon spp. were widespread across Eurasia during the Pleistocene. Phylogenetic reconstructions using morphological traits have grouped them with Asian elephants (Elephas maximus), and many paleontologists place Palaeoloxodon within Elephas. Here, we report the recovery of full mitochondrial genomes from four and partial nuclear genomes from two P. antiquus fossils. These fossils were collected at two sites in Germany, Neumark-Nord and Weimar-Ehringsdorf, and likely date to interglacial periods ~120 and ~244 thousand years ago, respectively. Unexpectedly, nuclear and mitochondrial DNA analyses suggest that P. antiquus was a close relative of extant African forest elephants (Loxodonta cyclotis). Species previously referred to Palaeoloxodon are thus most parsimoniously explained as having diverged from the lineage of Loxodonta, indicating that Loxodonta has not been constrained to Africa. Our results demonstrate that the current picture of elephant evolution is in need of substantial revision. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-10T03:53:57Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-605c955bb3d742dbbd903d32f1ab6a8f |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2050-084X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-10T03:53:57Z |
| publishDate | 2017-06-01 |
| publisher | eLife Sciences Publications Ltd |
| record_format | Article |
| series | eLife |
| spelling | doaj.art-605c955bb3d742dbbd903d32f1ab6a8f2022-12-22T02:03:11ZengeLife Sciences Publications LtdeLife2050-084X2017-06-01610.7554/eLife.25413Palaeogenomes of Eurasian straight-tusked elephants challenge the current view of elephant evolutionMatthias Meyer0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4760-558XEleftheria Palkopoulou1Sina Baleka2Mathias Stiller3Kirsty E H Penkman4https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6226-9799Kurt W Alt5Yasuko Ishida6Dietrich Mania7Swapan Mallick8Tom Meijer9Harald Meller10Sarah Nagel11Birgit Nickel12Sven Ostritz13Nadin Rohland14Karol Schauer15Tim Schüler16Alfred L Roca17David Reich18Beth Shapiro19Michael Hofreiter20Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropolgy, Leipzig, GermanyDepartment of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, United StatesEvolutionary Adaptive Genomics, Institute for Biochemistry and Biology, Department for Mathematics and Natural Sciences, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, GermanyMax Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropolgy, Leipzig, GermanyDepartment of Chemistry, University of York, York, United KingdomCenter of Natural and Cultural History of Man, Danube Private University, Krems-Stein, Austria; Department of Biomedical Engineering and Integrative Prehistory and Archaeological Science, Basel University, Basel, SwitzerlandDepartment of Animal Sciences, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, United StatesState Office for Heritage Management and Archaeology Saxony-Anhalt with State Museum of Prehistory, Halle, GermanyDepartment of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, United StatesNaturalis Biodiversity Center, Leiden, NetherlandsState Office for Heritage Management and Archaeology Saxony-Anhalt with State Museum of Prehistory, Halle, GermanyMax Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropolgy, Leipzig, GermanyMax Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropolgy, Leipzig, GermanyThüringisches Landesamt für Denkmalpflege und Archäologie, Weimar, GermanyDepartment of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, United StatesState Office for Heritage Management and Archaeology Saxony-Anhalt with State Museum of Prehistory, Halle, GermanyThüringisches Landesamt für Denkmalpflege und Archäologie, Weimar, GermanyDepartment of Animal Sciences, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, United StatesDepartment of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, United States; Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, Cambridge, United States; Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, United StatesDepartment of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Santa Cruz, United StatesEvolutionary Adaptive Genomics, Institute for Biochemistry and Biology, Department for Mathematics and Natural Sciences, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, GermanyThe straight-tusked elephants Palaeoloxodon spp. were widespread across Eurasia during the Pleistocene. Phylogenetic reconstructions using morphological traits have grouped them with Asian elephants (Elephas maximus), and many paleontologists place Palaeoloxodon within Elephas. Here, we report the recovery of full mitochondrial genomes from four and partial nuclear genomes from two P. antiquus fossils. These fossils were collected at two sites in Germany, Neumark-Nord and Weimar-Ehringsdorf, and likely date to interglacial periods ~120 and ~244 thousand years ago, respectively. Unexpectedly, nuclear and mitochondrial DNA analyses suggest that P. antiquus was a close relative of extant African forest elephants (Loxodonta cyclotis). Species previously referred to Palaeoloxodon are thus most parsimoniously explained as having diverged from the lineage of Loxodonta, indicating that Loxodonta has not been constrained to Africa. Our results demonstrate that the current picture of elephant evolution is in need of substantial revision.https://elifesciences.org/articles/25413Palaeoloxodon antiquusElephas antiquusancient DNApaleogenomes |
| spellingShingle | Matthias Meyer Eleftheria Palkopoulou Sina Baleka Mathias Stiller Kirsty E H Penkman Kurt W Alt Yasuko Ishida Dietrich Mania Swapan Mallick Tom Meijer Harald Meller Sarah Nagel Birgit Nickel Sven Ostritz Nadin Rohland Karol Schauer Tim Schüler Alfred L Roca David Reich Beth Shapiro Michael Hofreiter Palaeogenomes of Eurasian straight-tusked elephants challenge the current view of elephant evolution eLife Palaeoloxodon antiquus Elephas antiquus ancient DNA paleogenomes |
| title | Palaeogenomes of Eurasian straight-tusked elephants challenge the current view of elephant evolution |
| title_full | Palaeogenomes of Eurasian straight-tusked elephants challenge the current view of elephant evolution |
| title_fullStr | Palaeogenomes of Eurasian straight-tusked elephants challenge the current view of elephant evolution |
| title_full_unstemmed | Palaeogenomes of Eurasian straight-tusked elephants challenge the current view of elephant evolution |
| title_short | Palaeogenomes of Eurasian straight-tusked elephants challenge the current view of elephant evolution |
| title_sort | palaeogenomes of eurasian straight tusked elephants challenge the current view of elephant evolution |
| topic | Palaeoloxodon antiquus Elephas antiquus ancient DNA paleogenomes |
| url | https://elifesciences.org/articles/25413 |
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